Tomorrow is Josh's birthday. Josh is my son-in-law...bless his heart. He calls me Marilyn. He calls Mr. Lincoln Mr. Switzer...or The Fizzler. Because Mr. Lincoln refuses to give Josh the go ahead to call him by his first name (shades of someone to whom Mr. Lincoln is kin), he remains "Mr." Just one of the many eccentricities in this family with which Josh is learning to live.
Josh is learning very well how to live with the Switzer/Williams oddballness (is that a word?) He has some difficulty understanding how people live in a house where only one of three doors is operational. Well, that is not a totally true statement. All three doors are operational in some capacity. One cannot be opened from the outside, but it works very nicely from the inside if you have two people and a crowbar. Another one, also cannot be opened from the outside, but works nicely from the inside with one person who is blessed with great strength. One works perfectly from both the outside and the inside. If it goes down, well, we do have windows to the floor, and several of them are not that far from the ground. Josh would have the doors repaired. In some circles, I imagine that would make sense.
I think the dear boy might be somewhat bumfuzzled by people who use a bent tube of hair conditioner to hold the handle down in the tub so the water will drain. In the Switzer household, we just call that business as usual. When our freezer was making snow cone ice...not in the ice maker, but rather in the entire freezer...Josh could not quite grasp why we did not do something about it. Oh, don't get me wrong, he is not critical. He is one of the kindest people I know. He just doesn't get it. Our remote has not been cooperative for some time now. When one pushes the down arrow to check what is on, it either will not push down, or it goes 84 stations down in a nanosecond. Josh very kindly told me where I could go to get another one. He pointed out that I was in town every day, and it is just a short distance to Metro Center. I smiled, incredulously, wondering from what planet he cometh. Go to Metro Center to get a new remote? Certainly not....well, not until this one just will not work at all, and even then, we are likely to just go to another room and watch there.
Josh has many gifts. He is genius at staging homes to be sold. It is sort of unbelievable. He has a very high success rate of getting properties sold. When he went to Michael's and bought 8 artificial trees to stage his and MP's condo, I'll admit, I thought he had gone a bit overboard. Shows what I know. They got 4 offers on it the first day they showed it. He has single-handed boosted the real estate market in our neighborhood by putting offers on various houses. The word has spread. This neighborhood is having a resurgence in popularity. Little do they know, it is Josh putting offers on all those houses. I hope the inspection is encouraging, and they get the most recent one. It is two doors up and across the street from us!! I promise I won't be like Marie Barone. I promise.
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Josh is one of the most thoughtful men I have ever met. When they stayed with us last year, he never left to come home without calling to see if there is anything I needed. Even when they are not staying with us, Josh will call and say, "I'm going to Costco. Do you need anything?" I credit his parents for good upbringing. He learned well. I love cooking for Josh. He relishes his meals, and is very gracious and lavish with his gratitude...no matter what I serve. Well, there was that night that I made those pocket things that were horrendous, and even Josh admitted it. I knew right then, they were really bad if Josh said so. He likes to cook. He loves spices. Lots and lots of spices. He loves odd combinations of foods. I think it was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with dill pickles that he mentioned most recently. Really? Dill pickles?
On MP's 30th birthday, we went to one of those places where you paint pictures...everyone paints the same thing. Our inspiration was a field of red poppies. The picture, below, is of Josh working diligently on his painting. I am fairly certain that the owner of the studio was fretting over the layers and layers of red paint Josh coated on his canvas. Just exactly how were those red poppies going to show up on that red canvas? Well, let me just say, his thinking outside the box resulted in the most unique and most pleasing of all the paintings done that evening. Who knew?
If you want to buy something, and you want the very best item for the very best deal, call Josh. He loves to research. He loves to get a good deal. He's genius at it...really he is. Just mention, in his presence, that you might buy something, and he is on the job.
They say you can tell a man by the company he keeps. Josh has wonderful friends....lots and lots of wonderful friends. He wisely surrounds himself with lovely people. Recently, a mutual friend was having surgery, and there was no small amount of worry that she had cancer. I sort of fretted all Thursday waiting to hear from her. I texted Josh to see if he had heard anything. He had not. He asked if I did to please let him know, and if he did, he would let me know. I then just called the church, and joyfully learned that the mass was benign. I texted Josh the word, "benign." He immediately called me. "Benign?" he said, "Praise God." Those are not just words with him. I am certain that he, as did I, praised God for that good news. Just one of the many things I love about him.
So, happy birthday tomorrow, Josh. I'll sing you a song. I'll owe you a birthday dinner. I hope, in the midst of your hard work packing the POD, that you find blessings in your day, and peaceful rest when the sun sets.
And for anyone else reading this blog, I wish you precious in-laws who can teach you many things, but who don't try to change you no matter how baffling you may be, and I wish you
blessings
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