"Dad, mom, and JP are so fucking cool. Dad with the Marlins jersey in Italy giving me the bunny ears ✌️ What a legend. Lily and I posed, Nicky being Nicky. I love this photo more than I can convey"
I responded:
"always the goof😂 you're such a young gentleman and lulu farber from cushwoman is posed so prettily. and then the juvenile in the bunch photo bombs it🙄😂you were the victim if child abuse.😂"
Me:
"jp so scholarly. mom, pretty and proper...speaking of legends, that was the trip of the legendary spit ball shot* that amazed and astonished you young 'un's, wasn't it?"
Son:
Dad, that’s a legacy photo of you. We’re either in Italy or Switzerland. This might have been the same day you spitballed a Mediterranean statue on its “pico”.* Either way. You are so damn American in this photo.
“I don’t need a coat. Just give me a marlins jersey.”
Legend
*To the kids in that photo (my daughter was not yet born) the greatest feat they ever saw an adult perform was on that trip in Zurich. While walking with them I shot a spit ball through a straw and it hit and stuck to the penis of a statue twelve feet up. They gazed upon me in awe.😂
Son:
"Chaotic good at its finest." (which I don't know what that means except it's positive)
Me:
"i am SO American in that photo. white cons, baseball jersey, being a goof. think anyone thought, "wonder if that guy is italian?"😂"
Son:
"I love it. Unapologetically American af."
It was now 11:33 of the morning after and I was getting more tired but it kept coming.
Me:
"Yes, i was! "the ugly american". no manners, no formality, no other languages😂
"defiling ancient statuary...😂"
At this point my son started messaging on two channels, he and I privately, and the family group chat of the foregoing. He switched back and forth. This one, 11:40 pm, was between him and me; he had texted the photo above to Lily:
"I sent the photo to Lil and Nick. Lil have you the praise you deserve 😂 "
Now it was my turn to be astounded:
"OMG, EXACTLY WHAT YOU SAID!"
-I'll pick it up here. (more)-
Me, 11:47:
you see the seating arrangements in that photo. the two adults on the right. a noticeable separation between the adults and the childrens' table.😂
Son, 12:08 a.m.:
"The kids gravitated to the most childish mind that the adults offered 😂 "
Me, 12:10:
"THAT'S EXACTLY RIGHT!😂"
Son:
"Stop! Smell the petunias”
Sniff
“Let’s continue”
😂
Me:
"oh wee oh, oh-oh, oh (wizard of oz). STOP! Smell the (it wasn't petunias, something with bush. rose bush, something)." the boodee-lily's stuffed animal wedding, do younremember that?
Son, 12:17 a.m.:
"You’re right, might be rose buds. Whatever the flower was, it is inconsequential. The moment is what mattered."
Me:
"hanging out with you kids, i always had a tickle in my stomach, like i knew what i could do to get you into something or make you laugh. i was just always on the verge of laughinf myself around kids."
