The magic touch

Around 2am my wife woke me to tell me the toilet wouldn’t flush.. as any man (who could always go outside if he wanted) would do, I fell back to sleep and somehow convinced myself that it was a part of a strange dream.

This morning it was real. The toilet was clogged… I tried everything. I made it look, a lot, like I knew what I was doing. In reality, besides the basics, I know very little about plumbing. I assume my fluids and remains will go down the hole in the bathroom without incident. Normally it does.. 

SO I plunged and plunged and plunged. My arms were sore.. I tried to flush… and hush.. and NO GO. No flow. The toilet was jammed, I felt damned.

So I left the bathroom to regroup.. and I was tinkering with the idea of Googling or YouTubing strange toilet problems so see how mine fit in.. perhaps I’d find an answer. Maybe I’d even go back to the past and Ask Jeeves!

At that moment, I heard the toilet suck down the remaining water and push it through the pipes.. I ran in. What happened!? I saw my wife with the plunger in her hand, looking at me and saying simply, “I plunged it, didn’t you even try that?”

I did try!
I did plunge!
I felt like one of the Mario Brothers!

But I did not have the magic touch ..or even the magic flush. And regardless of the use of force, sometimes it takes a special maneuver to make the water flow again. Sometimes, I suppose, it takes a woman’s touch.

That or .. my ferocious plumbing did the work and on last gentle push was all it needed.

Hell, I need some find some manly way out, right?

Six year ago today (on a day virtually the same as today weatherwise) my wife Tara and I took our first walk as a married couple. This image perfectly symbolized how I felt that day—walking into the future, backs to the past.. but the same bridge of life. 

Since then we had a child, headaches and heartaches, deaths and tribulations. Along with it, laughs, endless smiles, and sure, a few necessary frowns.

The journey of life.. accompanying each other..

After six years, we now have a legacy. A child .. 

In six years, he’ll be going on 9.. and we’ll be combing out gray hairs—with me maybe shining a bald head.

While we know things can mightily change in the span of only a few years, a few constants will remain. 

At first I was surprised today at how many people I know or work without didn't know the real meaning of Valentine's Day

…and then I discovered just how many meanings there were. I learned something myself..

Roman gods of fertility..

Ancient Pagan Festival of Lupercus..

…saints…

….little lovely signs of love..

Lots.

And then I realized why it was so easy for corporations, Hallmark, and chocolate companies to take over the holiday and do what they do best: Profit off of it.

I used to work in the restaurant industry (and still miss it.) Therefore I can only predict diners and dives across America are filled tonight.. bad chicken and tough steak … being served as we speak. Lovers out to eat.. balloons.. kisses.. and sour stomachs to follow.

Yes, indeed. Tonight is the  night of love.

As for my wife and I? We took a more simple approach.. I gave Tara a balloon, a card, and a cheese steak. She gave me Cadbury Mini Eggs and David’s Jumbo Sunflower Seeds. And Ayden gave her an Elmo picture. A simple, kind, nice.. and meaningful Valentine’s Day 2012. Whatever Valentine’s Day means anyway..

A controversial new book asks: Is marriage for white people?

Or… maybe not.

A controversial new book asks: Is marriage for white people?