Glory Days

 

My father in law and I were polar opposites. For all the time I knew him he tried (and succeeded) in getting under my skin. We drove each other bonkers. It was the damnedest relationship... I think his family drove him around a different bend than mine did with me ... but he was being driven just as I was. He would tell me things he’d never say to the family. I could tell him stuff in complete confidence too. His wife was a problem and a trial for him, and probably still is. I wouldn’t know, we don’t speak anymore.

Before we parted the road between us, he’d sometimes tell me of one Friday when he and the guys at work decided to take a weekend off. They loaded up the vehicles with booze and cigarettes and headed down the Forest Trunk Road to camp out. That was on the eastern slopes of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains. Back in those days that area was remote and isolated. This was before the advent of cellphones, even AM radio was tetchy out there. Somehow, all the guys were able to get away for it. They built a campfire, pulled out the baseball mitts, and just talked and laughed the night away, without a care in the world until they passed out. They didn’t even put up the tents, they just slept in their cars. They were Away. Away from the wives, the kids, the drama and the bullshit. They were kings. It was one of his most cherished memories. The guys tried, but they never got away like that as a group again.

I think it grated on him - I was able to get away any time and often did so. My wife was always good about such things. I was never under the wife’s thumb as he was. I still think about him from time to time. He was a simple man that liked simple pleasures in a family that didn’t allow for that. Perhaps it was a point of commonality that allowed us to coexist for awhile without murdering each other.

I hope everybody has a great weekend lined up, and that you are in a position to make some great memories.

😊👍