Studio, Study, and Starch

by Chet Berry

?

What won’t we do for our kids?

I can think of a number of things off the table.? I can think of just as many things that earned Marchelle and myself sacrificial parenting merit badges.? Choices between what we will do and what we won’t are often very obvious.? Such choices aren’t the problem.? At other times, the choice seems innocent and innocuous.

Those are the decision that bite.

Our days of empty nesting were short.? The youngest has moved back home and is working on Tonka trucks for a living.? Big yellow heavy equipment of the feline persuasion.? Only a few will get that joke.? Congratulate yourself if you do. The middle child is set to move back home in a few weeks as she prepares to get married in December. This will most certainly generate good article material. She’s bringing her dog with her.? “Charlie”, the golden retriever, is full of energy and very loving.? Our two dogs just roll their eyes and endure his exuberance.

It was a moment of vulnerability.? I was feeling good.? It was meatloaf night.? Marchelle makes the best meatloaf.? My youngest approached me and asked if I had plans for my office space in the basement.? Actually, he first asked if I was actively using my office.?

Very slick…the young one.

A year prior to his inquiry I took a job working as an Adjudicator for the Disability Determination Bureau. I have since declared my own disability as I discovered my inability to work for the government.? With no outlet for creativity or problem solving, semi-retirement became increasingly attractive.

During my short stent at the state, I worked from home two days per week.? My subterranean office accommodations prohibited receiving cell phone calls, a phenomenon I found most enjoyable but not embraced by my superiors.? The solution was to move to the main floor of our house.?

I moved my desk and just a few of my office things.? And admittedly, I was not currently using my cubby hole under the basement stairs. When the youngest asked if he could use my downstairs office, without thinking I replied “yes”.

Here is what my youngest heard me say.

“No problem.? You can take the remainder of my office furnishings…degrees I’ve earned, books I cherish, treasures from travels, and photos of the fab four and stack them up like kindling.? No worries.”

Here is what I thought I said.

“No problem.? Don’t touch my stuff, but you can use the room.”

What we had here was a failure to communicate.

While I was frustrated by the amount of work my lack of communication had generated, I was motivated by my new office accommodations.? I had room for my guitar and studio gear. I had a window.? I was closer to the refrigerator. I had more room to display nick knacks and remnants of days past.? Important things, such as…

My personally signed Bob Knight basketball.? My sister had a meeting with the General and had him sign a basketball to give me for my birthday.? It’s the only souvenir I own with its own spotlight and a security system.? Next to it is a diet Coke bottle from our last trip to Disney World.? A strange looking piece that sort of looks like a hand grenade from Star Wars.? There’s a small rock that I took from the walking path of the garden of Gethsemane.? I believe that may have been illegal, but I can think of no better place to ask for forgiveness.? I do have some serious memorabilia.? I have my college degrees that remind me of prior motivations as well as my Beatles pictures.? There is a large stuffed squirrel sitting on a piece of wood that adorned my Father-in-laws study for years.? There’s a cricket ball, cow figurines, items received from my children, and Forky.? For those keeping score, that’s two references to Disney World and two spiritual excursions.?

Did I mention that my new office space is also our laundry room?? I’ve never been more productive.? I can now compose articles, practice my music, and do a load of whites all simultaneously. ?Current plans will return Marchelle and myself to empty nester status by the end of the year.? Will I move back to the basement?? No way.?

I just found $2 in a jean pocket.?

cb