Haunted Tupperware and a Relationship Lecture: On the Next Maury

Dear Big Brother - Survivor phoned. They want their gimmick back.

There, just had to say it. I am right annoyed with BB, which is my usual favorite show in the summer. They bring back these 3 couples to play again, just like Survivor did this year with bringing back Rob (sorry, I refuse to call him "Boston Rob", because I know some people in Boston and wouldn't want to lump them in with that douchebag) and Russell. Anyway, CBS kept bringing Rob back season after season, in hopes the poor bugger would finally win. So, after like the 4th time back, he does win. But the cast is just a bunch of stupid people, so it's not like it was some real win. It's kind of like Carrot Top starring in a dramatic role, and since the poor bastard has no hopes of winning a Golden Globe (even from the drunk and kooky Hollywood Foreign Press), Hollywood thus stops releasing new movies by actual actors, and instead Carrot Top is judged against actors like Scott Baio, Willie Ames, Tom Arnold, and Screetch. Then, finally, Carrot Top wins an Oscar, and nobody cares. THAT is what Boston Rob's win meant to me.

And with BB? Bringing these people back is an old trope. Do an all-star again, or don't do it at all. And that's all I have to say about that.

So anyway, today started out a little rocky. Do you ever wake up and just know that everything is going to be a little off? Well, I think we all felt that in the wind. Kids were overtired and over the top, and we were a little bit too. Anyway, it all ended up ok in the end, and we went to this.. well, I guess you would call it a park, outside of the city. It's a wilderness area, with campsites (you can't actually camp there) with fire pits and tables and such, so we went for a walk and a hot dog roast and such. We spent most of the afternoon and early evening there and then came home.

Remember me saying yesterday that we went to this estate sale on Friday and bought all of this old tupperware? It was the home of my old French teacher, who died a year or two ago. I guess his wife has been living in Cowtown with her kids, and they came back to clear out stuff and sell it off. So, we saw all of this old tupperware laying there, and bought it - the classic stuff, like big-ass containers for cakes and lettuce and camping dishes and cups and covered bowls, etc. Well, the thing is, this tupperware is haunting me. You see, on many of the pieces, there is still tape with stuff written on it, like "Xmas 2009" or "date squares and cereal bars" and "pecan date slice", all written in this shaky old lady scrawl. And it got me thinking. This old lady was at the sale. She didn't look especially happy, and didn't look especially touchy-feely, so it's not like I saw her and melted. But I keep thinking of how hard this must be for her to watch everything she owned and kept throughout the years just being sold in big boxes for 10 bucks. I started thinking how horrible that must be, like the end of an era. Back in Calgary, she can make date squares, but she won't make them in the same containers she's used for the past 40 years, or in the same kitchen she's cooked in for the last 50 years, and now, she probably won't need to cook so much because people aren't coming home for Xmas - she's on their turf now. so while it's just tupperware, there's a deeper meaning to it.

So tonight I throw some of it in the dishwasher. I end up opening it to throw something else in, and the thing is so full of suds, it's like a fucking washing machine. So, I keep checking throughout the cycle, and the damn thing is all sudsy. I had to run it all through again without soap just to get it to stop sudsing. And the tupperware has this stale, old lady smell to it. At first I was thinking she must have always washed it by hand without rinsing, and soap built up, but now I am thinking the shit is half-haunted. I am kidding. Kinda.

What else... oh, on Friday, after we went for lunch where I got all pukey from the lady's dirty teeth, and after the big Tupperware Heist, we stopped at home for a minute to get something before we went on our next errand. The kids stayed in the car and the mrs. went inside to get something and I ran to the back to hang a comforter on the line. As I am doing that, I hear yelling and swearing and then kid #1 comes out back and says Mindy and Wayne from 2 doors down are fighting in the driveway. I think I posted in the winter that she left him and shacked up with this dude and we were so sad, it pretty much ruined a few weekends for us? We were happy they moved in, and they had 3 kids, 15, 8, and 4. Kids 1 and 2 were hers, from different daddies, and kid 3 was Wayne's. Kid #2 and their kid #2 are friends, and their oldest was our babysitter for after school in the fall. Nice kids. And we always said he was a wonderful man to get involved with her and take all of that on. Anyway, he's sort of been venting to us here and there and on Friday, after we came home, he ran over and apologized for the scene in the driveway, in case the kids heard. Now that's classy. And it was her freaking out. She moved out to live with this abusive-ish crazy man, and anyway, she found out he has a female friend, who I think is pretty much still just a friend, and she freaked. Anyway, she's obviously nuts. So we invited him in and gave him a few beers and it breaks our hearts. They were our first crazy break up, that has been followed by so many going nutty.

You know what? I am so thankful for my wife. And it pains me that others don't have that. Or, rather, it pains me that others have that right in front of them, but choose not to grab it. I am not saying people should "settle". Not at all. But if people think that the loves of their lives should always be shooting off fireworks in their hearts, well, that newness that people mistake for fireworks is replaced, with time and hard work, with a trust and a deeper love. And every relationship is a work in progress. It's always two steps forward and one step back. But I have to say, after being married 13 years next week, shacked up for 19 years, and together for 21 years, it gets deeper and better and so surprisingly GOOD as time goes on. That butterflies in your stomach feeling when you first meet someone? Well, that means nothing. Is that person making eyes at you equal to the person who holds your puke pail when you have food poisoning? Nope. Or if you are one of those who live in the past, like one of the recent crazy separated people I know is, will that first love of yours hold you when you are sad or scared or both? No. He pretty much just wanted to tell his buddies he scored. You don't see it, but it's really what he's about. Or will this new love of your life be a new start, or the repeat of your usual pattern? Think hard on that one.

So yeah, while part of me is freaked out at how everyone around me this year has wigged the fuck out, I am happy to stay the course, knowing a good thing when I see it. I suggest all of you do the same.

Anyway, my lecture is done for the night. Have a great Monday all y'all.

Seacrest out.