“No, I don’t think I have one of those…”

-my friend’s dad, after learning about what it means to be someone’s “beard”

As glad as I am that I came home to live, it was extremely hard leaving a lot of people that I really loved. So on Friday, I road tripped it to State College for a weekend with Sarah, one of my closest friends.  You’d think that living at home, I’d make the goal of a trip away a decidedly parent-free weekend.  Not so much.

Sarah lives at home with her folks (who are both fun and funny; see above) too, and her situation trumps mine in hilarity due to the fact that this home is located in a 55+ community.  It’s a pretty magical place, and I may have to consider convincing Patty and Dave to jump on that bandwagon.

Dr. and Mrs. H. rolled out the red carpet when they found out I was staying with them.  When I was still living in State College, they were always really awesome to me, and the weekend was no exception.  Wine when I walked in the door, all vegetarian meals (Mrs. H. makes a kick-ass mac and cheese), evening chauffeuring.  I’m really not that special.

Just yesterday I was thinking about how glad I am that my car has never given me any major problems since I got it in 2002, like not starting after I put the key in the ignition. I’m usually a big fan of irony, but not this time.

I go to head back to Newtown at noon today.  Car does not start.  I run back to the house and cry for help.  It is pouring rain.  We (and by “we” I mean mostly Dr. H.) jump the battery and the Rav comes back to life, but it is decided that I’ll be taking it to Firestone instead of the 150 miles home just yet.

Back at the old folks home, a plate of mac and cheese and cup of tea later, the Firestone car guy calls the house.  I’m told that my little Ravvy needs a brand new battery.  I am not told how much this new battery will cost.  In fact, I am straight up prohibited from paying for it myself, which I’m perfectly capable of doing.  Stop this madness!

All Dr. H did was make me promise to call AAA and check that my membership is still active.  I did.  It is.

From now on, I’m only visiting friends who live with their parents.  To the H. family, you are the most amazingly nice people ever.  Thank you for being that way.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 17th, 2010 at 7:47 pm and is filed under Parents Say Funny Things. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.