False Teeth and The Family Tree

Rearrange the decorations on the shelf. Go for a run with the dog. Bottle the leftover turkey. Clean the hamster cage. Update the website. Create new templates for wood carving. Make a birthday card for a friend. Write a blog. Watch another movie,  … SQUIRREL!

How Did This Happen?

A need to focus!  Really?  Now why I would ever think there should be changes made for the coming year is beyond me.  It’s such fun going madly off in all directions and, believe or not, all this stuff does get done.  Mind you, by the time I’m finished it’s running into midday (for all but the movie) and I am running out of energy quickly.  It has nothing to do with the squirrel. It has to do with the weight.  Over the past month (well maybe two) I’ve gained sufficient to now be equivalent to 1 1/2 persons.  How did this happen?

It was the Christmas movies, of course. I’ve effectively eaten my way through 240 hours of snacks while watching and re-watching those gal darned movies. An addictive personality … do you think?  Now do not misunderstand. I have willpower and I use restraint. I do not, and will not, watch a movie before sundown.  At which time, I convince myself I’ve worked quite hard and I’ve earned the right to relax in my cozy chair. Oh, but each one was so good (the snack and the movie).  Naturally, there were moments of laughter and moments of tears and from the lips to the hips it was off to bed with dreams of ‘my family, false teeth, and happily ever after’.

False Teeth and The Family Tree

Ever accidentally throw something valuable in the stove or the fire pit.  My sister did once. It was all completely innocent and it wasn’t her fault, not really.  It was my mother’s.  She had a habit of removing her false teeth when she ate – go figure.  She would discretely and carefully wrap them in a paper towel and place them close to her plate at the table.  (And, oh if she could read this story now, she would not be pleased with it’s telling.)

On one particular evening, one of my sisters, who shall remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, was clearing the table and preparing to wash the dishes. Now if you live in a home where the wood stove is the main source of heat, you will understand perfectly that everything burnable gets burned.  Naturally, that means paper wrappings, napkins and paper towels.  And that was the day Mom’s false teeth helped heat the house.

All this came to mind in fits of laughter one day this summer when our son brought me a wonderful gift on return from a family vacation on Prince Edward Island. As with everything in our home, it came with its own story.

Years ago, Dave and I, along with our family friends Donna and Gerry, visited PEI. What a fantastic trip!  We laughed our way across the entire island.  One of the highlights that had us in stitches was the stop at Anne of Green Gables with Dave and Gerry posing in Anne costumes.  But, I digress as that wasn’t the memory that was forefront this summer.  It was our visit to The Bottle Houses along the North Cape Coastal Drive, Cape Egmont, Wellington. We were fascinated.

Anyway, this summer our son and his family visited the same spot. It was there that he decided to buy a beautiful ornament for me – a family tree in a glass bulb. With it carefully wrapped, it was placed gently in the cab of the truck.

Now PEI is an environmentally friendly province.  They do not use plastic shopping bags. Instead things are packaged in paper. And here’s where it started to get complicated. After leaving The Bottle Houses, they headed back to their rental cabin near Charlottetown and decided to go to BOOMburgers for supper. Naturally, later that evening they had a campfire and burned all the leftover garbage and brown bags.

And, now you’re ahead me!  Yes, the carefully wrapped, gently handled, ornament was not so gently tossed in the fire pit. But it did not go the way of the false teeth.  I understand that the language used that night and my son’s dance around the fire may have well blessed the Peyton Bouzane Family tree.

When they got back to Newfoundland, I was presented with a brown bag that contained a not-so-slightly charred glass bulb that was mercifully still together with little shards of glass sticking out all over. I picked it up and, oh my, it fell apart in little pieces.

But of course, it couldn’t stop there. We’re a strong family and we stick together through thick and thin.  Determined and through tears of laughter, the glass bulb was painstaking glued back together where it now sits in its rightful place on the shelf.

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Quote for Today

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”  – Dale Carnegie

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© 2018 Beulah Peyton Bouzane. All rights reserved.