The boat show

Another Sunday come and gone. Another Sunday with my Honey. (sort of). Another day to wake up and see him next to me, watching him breathe. How many days have come and gone since we found out about Martin's heart? Not sure, but each new day means so much to me. He was a stinker today, and went to the boat show with some other members of the family. He never goes on Sunday, but yesterday the Texans had their playoff game at the stadium where the boat show was supposed to be, and they cancelled the Saturday boat show. Martin and the "men folk" of the family have gone to the boat show for longer than I can remember. It is a big deal. For months ahead of time, they talk about the boats they would like to have, (but always say they can't afford) the new fishing tackle on the market, the booths, the presentations, and other boat show stuff. In October, it is only 3 months to the boat show. November, 2 months. December, only one month or less to the boat show, and the plans are cemented. When Martin found out that they would possibly do his proceedure the first week of January, he actually told the doctor that the boat show was that weekend- can you believe it? When he found out that he was going to have the proceedure on Friday, Jan 13, the first thing he said was, "Whew, I thought I was going to have to miss the boat show!" The men in the family have been stashing secret funds just for this big day. Handfuls of change go into an Ozarka bottle, just for the boat show. You can get quite a bit of a nest egg, doing this all year. Heaven help anyone who would touch the boat show fund. Oh yes, the Saturday of the boat show is a sacred day! The men get up, get dressed and get ready to be there when the doors open. Even the grandson's, nephews and cousins go. They must be there exactly on time. After a euphoric 3 hours of boat show bliss, they give in and go onto their next boat show day ritual: James Coney Island for hot dogs. Oh yes, the hot dogs. They sit their with their chili-covered mouthwatering hotdogs and talk about what else? The boat show. When they finally get home, it is understood by all the women in the family that the men are worn out and need a nap. So, nap they do. Then, they wake up later, and the women get a full run down of the exciting day. (yawn).

You can see why, when they cancelled the sacred Saturday of the annual boat show, that the men were inconsolable. How could they do this? After all, it is only a once in a life-time opportunity for the Texans to go to a play off- and they are cancelling the Saturday boat show for that?!!!! The men decided that they would give in and go to the Sunday boat show. Now, as far as I am concerned, Sunday is for church, Sunday dinner with the family and naptime. Years ago, I would have put my foot down and declared that Martin WOULD NOT be allowed to go to the boat show on Sunday, but in the years that have passed since then, I realize that I should not try to control him, and just listened to him try to justify going on Sunday. He said he could not go next weekend, as he was going to have the proceedure on Friday, and would be in the hospital for a couple of days. Okay, Okay, enough. Go to the boat show on Sunday. The other women didn't raise a fuss either, we know what the boat show means to our men. And so, Joe, Robby, Martin, David, Eli and Shane went to the sacred boat show. They ate hot dogs after, and came home and took a nap. That is why I had a quiet day, and thank goodness, got out of going to the boat show for the year 2012