Newscoma

There’s been a lot going on this past week and it’s been all I can do to keep my brain functioning. I even told Squirrelly that I think I’ve been overstimulated to the point of paralysis.

Ever gone through that?

So, let’s recap. During my adventures in Whites Creek, I met a man I will call the Key Grip. In his early 60s, we struck up a conversation (as you know, I can talk to vinyl siding) and it was a fascinating talk(one that I wish Aunt B. could have been a part of because he’s basically her neighbor.) He was talking to one of his buddies about he had a couple of days before his call time was at such and such a time. He then said he was scouting locations for a new television show.

He was unpretentious and the people obviously knew him. Wearing a Bayer Aspirin cap and wearing comfortable, worn overalls, my first impression was that he was just a dude, but over the next two hours, we found out that he has been working on films for years and had apparently even done some work in politics shooting commercials etc. For whatever reason, the subject of Downs Syndrome came up. Before Key Grip embarked into the world of entertainment, he had run an assisted living facility for adults with mental retardation. My brother-in-law’s sister recently had her first child who was born with Downs and my sis and the family are going to visit him this Thanksgiving in Ohio.

Key Grip’s eyes welled up talking of this time because you could tell these early years formed who he is today.  It was one of those real snapshots in time where you meet a stranger and you feel like you’ve known them your whole life. It was that kind of moment and even Squirrelly was charmed by him. You could tell he sort of ruled the roost where we were.

When he was talking about his current job, he laughed in a very sexy voice (and it was) and said “Google me and you’ll see what I’ve done.”

I became a bit cocky and smiled good naturedly, “You google me too then. Two can play that game.”

He let out a huge guffaw, “Will do.” Before we left him, he gave us an affectionate hug and told us to come back and see him soon. We told him we would and I think we will.

He was delightful, and yes, everything he told us was true because Google-Fu confirmed that he was indeed the guy that he said he was. I loved that he was just folks and I hope to run into him again. He asked me not to use his name, and I won’t. I will tell you that he was incredible.

Key Grip was just folks. I dig that.

We came home the next day to Hoots and were met by friends and family that we hadn’t seen for more than a week. The Engineer and the Grad (who graduates this month) took us to dinner and then we went on a limo ride with several people all around Hoots and into the adjoining county. Miss Sherri got us the limo and we hung out riding around like some odd version of prom 30 years later. It was unexpected and sort of groovy because it came out of nowhere.

I think we all needed it. Let me tell  you why. Earlier this week, another one of our acquaintances decided to check out permanently. Her son and a friend of hers found her body and notes telling folks why she couldn’t go on. It laid like a black mist around us all week. I’m not going to tell you that I was close to this person, but I will say that her suicide impacted us all.  There was nothing anyone could do but it still laid there, the desperation of clinical depression that could not be fixed. Since my bout with unemployment this year (which I’m still financially reeling from which is going to make Christmas a lean beast this year) this is the second person I know who has killed themselves. For the people she left behind, I offer up a word of silent prayer and hope that they get through this.

What does one say about this sort of thing? There are no words.

So on Friday as SQ and I came home after a week, we saw the people that we like who a part of a ragtag “family” of sorts and we took an evening of just forgetting the world for a bit, enjoyed the company and appreciated the fact that we had each other, if only for a few hours.

On a final note, I have some sort of throat infection. I have named my tonsils Beaudrox and Evan and they are the size of Dom Deluise.