Your parents don't live here anymore...

I know everyone has heard stories of parents sending their wicked children out to play and then moving while the kids were outside. There are also stories about babies being kidnapped by gypsies and sold, or being cooked in ovens in gingerbread houses and such. Well, I've got one that tops all of that, and it's a true story, t' boot.

I left for basic training on a Greyhound bus one sunny, Good Friday afternoon with my parents and wife seeing me off. Dad talked about the time when he and his brothers left for WWII, much like this only it was a train that carried them to their destiny. I told them I would be fine and when I finished A.I.T. (Advanced Individual Training -- i.e. Military Police school) I would call to tell them what flight I was on and when to meet me. They assured me they would meet me when I was done.

However, we finished the graduation ceremony early that fine day in late July and having learned how the army can screw things up, I decided to vamoose and see if I could get an earlier flight back to Ohio. If I weren't able to get an earlier flight, I at least wanted to get off post, knowing that out of sight meant out of mind as far as drill sergeants were concerned. I was very well schooled in the old army adage that it's better that privates are not seen or heard and I was quite happy to demonstrate my grasp of that concept.

I called Pam and told her of my plan to get back to Ohio that night rather than the next day or so. She thought that would be great and we would surprise everyone back here.

Well, I got back and we drove out to see my folks that night. I pulled in the driveway, went up to the front door and knocked. Strange, but I didn't hear the dogs. I knocked again, and the light went on in the house -- strange, I don't remember a light over in that part of the living room. Then the door opened. There was a strange lady at the door...what the heck!! I asked her who she was and she repeated the question back to me. I informed her that I was Mike and I lived here. She said she didn't care who I was and I didn't live there. And she really wasn't all that impressed by my uniform and my newly sewn-on PFC stripes!! Was she related to my drill sergeant?

Well, the conversation went on and we finally reached an understanding. She informed me that they had bought the house from my parents who had just moved up the road a bit. Can you believe that!! Well, we found their new house and was there a lot of laughing that night. I'm sure the lady at their old house wondered what the heck was really going on. Pam knew they were building a new house and would move soon, but she wanted them to surprise me with the news so she didn't say anything. Obviously she didn't know they had done it so quickly.

Later on in life, I would take mom and dad to lunch and later, after dad died, just mom. According to my sister, it seems I only did this when I had to tell her I was being mobilized and going off somewhere. My sister told me she wasn't going to go to lunch with us anymore unless I changed my routine and didn't do it just to say good-bye. Maybe so, but we would certainly have a good laugh about them moving that time. While they would tell me that they wouldn't do that again, I couldn't promise them that I wouldn't do this to them again.

Other things may change us, but we start and end with family.

"Families are like fudge ... mostly sweet, with a few nuts."

Hooah