My dad and I went to breakfast for years together on Saturday mornings.
Looking back… it is probably one of the greatest joys of my life. I don’t have that tradition quite yet with any of my children. I went to the diner both mornings this weekend alone.
My dad and I were always regulars wherever we went. The waitresses, the cooks and the owners all knew the gregarious father and son. All my dad had to do when he ordered was say, “burn, burn and burn.”
The waitress would know my dad wanted his toast, his bacon and his hash browns well done…. But he always had his eggs over easy.
Burn the crap out of everything, but barely cook the eggs?
That’s how my dad rolled….
Then suddenly he started ordering his eggs scrambled. Eventually ordering just the burned breakfast without any eggs.
A couple times at the end of his egg run he pulled the car over to the side, got out and vomited. Eggs were making Big Don sick. He blamed it on old age, but I’m sure it was something else and he was just hiding it from me.
I thought about my dad’s egg story out of the blue…
Yesterday, George and I put up the tree and the decorations. It has been custom for me to have my famous JumboNog during the tree trimming.
This year might be the end of the eggnog and Christmas tree relationship!?!?! The first one didn’t go down well, so dumb ass here tried a second one just to see what the hell was going on.
I found out that JumboNog doesn’t smell good after it lands in a toilet bowl.
I was trying to do the math in my head and I concluded that my dad’s love for eggs with his breakfast and my love for nog on tree day both happen around the same time in life.
I brushed my teeth, threw some water on my face and cracked open the last BuckleDown in the icebox.
I got right back out there and finished putting decorations up on the tree. Correcting the clump of ornaments that George put on one side while I was praying to the porcelain.
I thought about the last time I put ornaments on the tree with my dad. I thought about the last time I put ornaments on the tree with PopPop. They both loved trimming the tree and they both had their way of doing it.
George learned yesterday that I have my own way of doing it as well. When we finished the job, I turned to George and told him we are going to breakfast together next Saturday.
I can’t give up on the JumboNog just yet… I bought a gallon of Oberweiss….I am not letting that go to waste.
Happy Monday Chalkheads…. After a gray and rainy weekend, I think we are going to be able to put the smile on the sun today.
