Excuse me while I go wash my hands again…

Sorry.  I realized today how things can sneak up on you, when you didn’t even realize that it was sneakable.   And it would keep sneaking up if I didn’t wash my hands.  Again.

It has to do with old memories, you know?  Things that were there this whole time, but it took something concrete to bring to the surface.

Today, it was Huberd’s Shoe Grease.  Somehow, I knew it was good stuff.  Couldn’t remember why or where I knew this from, but I decided that I needed to waterproof my boots with some Huberd’s.

The problem is, when I opened the container and saw the grease.  Dabbed some on the cloth.  Caught a whiff of it.  Had a horrible flashback.

See, my step-dad used Huberd’s.  It’s a great product – that’s why he used it.  To grease his work boots.  He used to pay a penny a boot for unlacing them when he came home.  The smell of dust and asphalt and Huberd’s is so clear in my mind now, when a few hours ago it was so sublimated that I didn’t even know how I knew about the shoe grease in the first place.

My first thought was to text my sister.  ”Using Huberd shoe grease.  Trying not to get icked out.”

She replied, “Oh man, haven’t thought of that for years.  Weird gagging in my throat and instant nausea.”

So it’s not just me – I’m not crazy.  I feel sort of bad for bringing this up to my sister, who has enough stuff going on in her life, but who else can you talk to, if not the person who was there with you, sharing the experience?

I tried to mention it to my roommate.  I’ve known him for…6 years?   More, I think.  8, maybe.  In any case, we’ve been friends a long time.  And I said, I’m going to have to have my daughter finish waterproofing my boots.  The smell gave me horrible flashbacks.

He replied, “My knee sure got stiff at work today, but I still wish I could have worked a full shift.”

I guess there are some things that you just can’t talk to a guy-friend about, huh?

Like how strawberry jam and shoe grease can take you back to being an 8-year old being abused by your step-dad.  Or how you feel weird taking money from people, because that’s what he did to try to make us stay quiet about it.  Or a hundred other stupid little things.

But that’s what blogs are for, right?  To let us prattle on about our hidden rotten insides without having to actually see people looking away, desperately trying to think of a new topic.

Actually, no.  Sometimes the lead singer had a hat on.

We went to see The Slants and Men Without Hats the other night.   It was an eventful day – I went to work, went home, picked up a couple kids, got stuck in traffic, got there in plenty of time, had the guy in line give us his spare ticket (score!  we were short one), got seats behind the sound guys, watched a great show, got pictures of my daughter with The Slants, got autographs, left, got stuck in traffic, got home at 2:18ayem.   Then got up at 7ayem to go to work.

But it was fun.  And worth it.  The kids had an awesome time, the traffic accident didn’t involve us, and all is well.  I have video of The Slants portion of the concert, but you can’t really see anything.  But you can hear it, by god, yes indeed.

Overall, it was a great concert.  It was put together by a band called Massive Moth…but I have to say, sandwiched in between The Slants and Mw/oH, they kind of got lost.  The kids wanted to dance, and they weren’t very dance-able.  The Slants opened strong and put on a great show.  Men w/o Hats…well, I couldn’t see much, but I what I could hear was impressive.  They’ve changed over the years, but not for the worse.  They did not disappoint.  And they were smart – they saved “the song” for last.  Well, second to last – there was an encore song.
Oh – and the played SOS by Abba.  HA!  It was great.

The enclosure I made for the pigeon.