Christmas? “Oh, Good Grief!”
How could 2020 have been a leap year? It was impossible to jump past the collected calamities of the past 12 months. Like Charlie Brown running to kick the football, by the third month we all found ourselves lying flat on our backs. They even cancelled the Olympics! “AAUGH!! 2020 was a Charlie Brown year. Oh,good grief!
“Charlie Brown? He’s a clown!” If anyone would know it’s Mike, but this year the joke was on him. In January he was trained by the Census Bureau to conduct surveys... sponsored by the CDC...in emergency rooms... and doctors offices......beginning in March! “Good grief!” Mike said, “Why’s everybody always pickin on me?”
But, he succeeded. (In quitting!) He lost his ‘census’ and continued to work on a forlorn foreclosure.
“It spoke to my inner Charlie,”said Mike.
The sad little house was purchased on Thanksgiving of ‘19, but it took ‘2020 vision’ to bring it to life. By summer, daughter Jenny moved into the new abode and Mike found independence on July 4th. Still, retirement can be exhausting. Every morning, dark and early, he must ZOOM to China! Wearing pajama bottoms and an orange VIPKid t-shirt Mike teaches English to his Chinese students,though some suggest they sent us a plague. (?) Oh, good grief!
By August, Sue was shouting, “After all these years it is hard to find goodness in this grief.” The Dr. is in: Mike put in his 5 cents, “Let me give you some advice. Quit!” (Actually retirement was part of the plan) Freed from the classroom, and channeling her inner Lucy,
Sue stated, “All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt!”
“And look at me, I’m smiling all the time!” she added.
“That’s great,” said Mike, “but you still have to wear a mask!”
2020? Good grief!
“I only dread one day at a time.” Charlie Brown was fond of saying, and as frustration, and division escalated and permeated the year, Mike thought, oh,good grief! Home Depot was out of perennials and bread flour has been hard to find. But an inner voice shouted, “Don’t you get it Charlie Brown? Any blockhead will tell you that when people value their time together, gardens and homemade bread, triumph over bombast and anger.”
This year we have been safe and healthy, Sue skypes and I type. We were able to visit Kate and Sean in Chicago and the grandkids, Alex, and Maggie are homebound and home schooled, smart and growing, happy and healthy.
With the Holidays here, Sue recently said, “This is the saddest little Christmas tree ever!” But if you recall Schultz’s characters, what made Charlie Brown’s grief ‘good’ was friends and family; Schroeder playing Beethoven, Snoopy dancing, kids singing, as Vince Guaraldi’s ‘Christmastime is Here’ played. Peanuts seems to sum it all up, even after 55 years. Good grief!
And somehow, Linus’s reading of the Christmas story seems more relevant too:
"...For behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” Luke 2 8-14
May your Christmas be filled with merry moments and your New Year bring well deserved happiness.
Despite the ‘good grief’ experienced throughout 2020
Wishing you “The Merry-est’ from “The Perry-est’
Mike Perry and family
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