The Way It Goes

Well, life is life. Italo has gone off to college on his soccer scholarship and he's happy as can be. His roommate is a cool guy, he's on his own, and he loves it. And me and Chepa, though separated, are both sad. We love our kid. And we both know he needs to be on his own, but at the same time we miss his daily funny input, his declarations of independence, and so forth.
So he came home last night and today I forced him to come to my office, the rat-ridden office--and work with my plan> My plan was that I think we've gotten the rats out of the office with poison and traps and such, but I think they're still living underneath the little out building. So I bought 4 gallons of industrial strength clorox and had Italo pour two gallons into one entrance under the building and I poured a couple of gallons into the other entrance.
I was terrified that there would be 100 rats running out but there were none. In my office there was one dead rat: I'm afraid of live rats, or startled by them or whatever (scared is more accurate) but dead rats don't bother me. On the other hand, Italo, the brave warrior, was scared shitless of the dead rat that smelled so bad.
"I'm not going in there dad. I can't handle the smell."
The smell is wonderful to me. It's a dead rat.
But not to him.
So I cleaned it out.
And no rats came out from under the little building when 4 gallons of Clorox was poured underneath it. So maybe we've lost the rats.
Meanwhile, night before last I had a couple of Jim Beams and then suddenly needed a little ice cream. I've been being good for a month and not had any but I had to have some. And so did Madeleina, who's been being very good lately trying to lose weight as well. So I got into my truck to head to the corner gas station for packaged ice cream cones. Marco's car was in the way so I asked him to move it so I could leave and he did. But I was high and when I backed out I tapped his bumper. I thought he'd go crazy. Instead he came running to me and hugged me.
"Thank you, dad. Thank you. Thank you, thank you."
I apologized a million times.
"No, you don't understand. I hit your car and I owe you $700. Now you hit my car so I don't owe you anything! Thank you dad!"
I was sort of speechless. I mean, I hit his car and you can't see where. He hit mine and I lost the entire back panel of the pickup and the gas tank and the bumper and somehow we're now even.
I probably shouldn't have been driving, but it was only 500 yards. My mistake. My fault. But he has no damage and I still have a problem. So now we're even. I won't be driving after a couple of drinks anymore.
Right now, Italo, Sarah, Marco, his girl Brooke, Chepa, Sierra, Alexa and me and Madeleina are getting ready to eat. I thought I was eating alone tonight, so started with a small piece of steak, an ear of corn and 10 asparagus. We're up to 4 pounds of steak, 8 ears of corn, two large tomatoes sliced and sauteed and sprinkled with parmesan cheese, a pound of beans, salad....gonna be a lot of good food for the pig tomorrow, I'll venture.
And that's it from the Gormans.
Live goes on. Love is crazy. Somehow we're still a family even though you wouldn't define us that way.
I love my life.