The Last Few Days, In A Nutshell(A Large Nutshell)

It’s been a busy last few days. Where to begin…

Last we spoke it was Valentine’s Day. My wife and I had a nice evening out. We headed to the little big town of Wabash, Indiana and enjoyed a very lovely dinner at Ninja Express. It’s a good thing we’re more concerned about the food than the ambiance, as this restaurant is located in a former Hardees on the main strip in Wabash. The only other times I’ve eaten there was during Covid and it was drive-thru only. I’d never seen the inside of this place. It’s not much to look at, honestly. It’s a family-run place, with mom and dad taking the orders and preparing the food, while the kids are in back in what looks like a makeshift homework cubby or something. The oldest was taking carryout orders out to people in their cars(like I said, family affair.)

So if I hadn’t ever eaten there before I probably would have gone elsewhere, but since I’d had their Volcano Rolls in the past I was ignoring the surroundings. My wife got some sort of spicy salmon roll(not that spicy but very tasty), while I got the Volcano Roll(deep fried maki roll with salmon, cream cheese,…other stuff.) It was absolutely delicious. We also got appetizers of the sexy jalapeno(sort of like the jalapeno poppers at Arby’s, but made fresh with whole jalapenos and cream cheese), as well as an order of dumplings. The dumplings were okay, but I’ve had better. Still, they tasted good.

After that we headed to the great Honeywell Center in downtown Wabash so we could have our faces melted off by Mr. Big. Our seats were great and the sound was fantastic in there(especially if you don’t mind late 80s pop metal.) The band sounded fantastic. Singer Eric Martin struggled to get those high notes, but for the most part he still sounded good. Paul Gilbert and Billy Sheehan were as prodigious as ever, with each of them taking a 10 minute solo. Gilbert played the Rocky theme, while Billy Sheehan did some weird stuff. It was cool, but, yeah. During his solo there were two drunk morons sitting a few rows behind us having an extremely loud conversation about nothing. I thought at first it was a couple drunks arguing and about ready to trade blows, but no they were just inebriated on too many Coors Lights and seemingly forgot they were in a live venue watching a band perform. Or better yet, just one guy playing his bass by himself. It was embarrassing.

What was even more embarrassing was the fact that I bet it wasn’t even halfway full in that place. Every time those house lights came up the band saw this massive empty hole of seats directly in the middle of the venue. I mean, what did they expect? It’s central Indiana on a Wednesday night. And it’s also 2024, not 1990. Still, I kind of felt bad for my guy Paul Gilbert. He deserved better than that.

The band at the beginning promised to play close to two hours. They opened with “Addicted To That Rush”, then proceeded to play Lean Into It in its entirety. After the solos they all came back out and played “Shyboy”, which was pretty damn cool. Eat Em And Smile was a huge album for me in my formative years. Revisiting it nowadays it still holds up. Just a fun, over-the-top rock album that relished excess. Of course, Mr. Big played it because Billy Sheehan wrote it for his old band Talas.

After “Shyboy” we made our way to the exit. We had two big days ahead of us and I wanted to get home and get some sleep.

Thursday was spent helping my oldest get their totes and boxes out into the garage so we could load up the UHaul when we picked it up later in the afternoon. Our new couch arrived by 9am, so that was out of the way. My wife got off work around 3:30pm, came home and picked me up, then we headed in to get the rental truck. By 5pm we had it fully loaded with most of our oldest’s belongings. We were ready for the big move Friday. At least I thought we were.

Of course the day we’re driving a UHaul full of furniture and boxes was the day we get a freak snow storm that ONLY affected central Indiana. Exactly where we were heading. I drove the UHaul, while my wife drove our Flex with more boxes. Our oldest drove her car and our son followed me in my Accord, as my wife was staying the night to help with unboxing and the boy and I needed a car to drive home. The snow got pretty thick a few times, but by the time we were about 40 minutes from the apartment the snow stopped temporarily.

About 30 minutes out my son calls and tells me the check engine light came on in my car. I was like “Are you kidding me?” I’ve had no issues with my car. It’s been a solid and reliable vehicle, and the one morning we drive it 2 hours south – in a snowstorm no less – it decides to have issues? Great. He said it drove fine. Wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary. So I told him if something does happen to pull over and call me. Fortunately we made it to the apartment no problem, but he did say that the last ten minutes when he’d brake the car would kind of shake. I guess that’ll be an issue for after we get everything moved in.

Moving in took less than an hour. It was grueling, especially the queen size mattress and sectional going up three flights of stairs. After everything was in my wife and I decided to drive the car to an Auto Zone and get the error read. When I got out to start the car the check engine light was off. I drove it the 5 miles to the Auto Zone with no issues. Since the light was no longer on there were no readings or errors showing up. We headed back to the apartment and decided we’d get lunch, then my son and I would gingerly make our way back home in the ticking time bomb that was my car.

One thing of note: we filled up the tank in my car before leaving for Indy that morning at a Walmart gas station. I never get gas at Walmart, but it was close to the highway we were taking so i figured why not? Well, turns out their gas is 10% ethanol. I think the issue with my car was the gas, as we topped it off before we came home with mid-grade gas and there were no more issues. The light never came back on and the car didn’t shake. So for my car, Walmart gas is no bueno. I guess it’s the same as some people can eat Taco Bell and have no GI issues, but if I even look at a Taco Bell my stomach gurgles.

Friday night was spent doing some rearranging(like I hadn’t done enough of that already), then I fell asleep on the couch watching Equalizer 3.

The rest of the weekend was basically doing little things around the house, icing my back, and celebrating one of my best friend’s 50th birthday. He turned 50 last month, but this was the weekend we were able to hang out. Chicken tacos, some tunes, a PBR, and a movie. It was a really nice time.

So besides a few setbacks and panicky moments the move to Indianapolis was a success. Our oldest’s roommate won’t be moving in until the first weekend of March, so my kiddo will be hanging solo until then. They’ll be looking for a job mostly. They’ve had two interviews with two different libraries, but no decisions have been made. I think they said they were going to apply at Aldi for the time being. $17 an hour starting. Good money for a filler job.

When I got home from work yesterday I sat in my chair with the dog and watched some true crime doc on Netflix. I started dozing off(the pooch’s snoring didn’t help). I just felt completely exhausted and depleted. My body feels beat up, and so does my heart I suppose.

I went into the store Sunday to grab a couple things and this little girl and her mom were in there. The little girl started crying, but not the annoying “Hey shut that kid up” kind of cry. The sad, confused cry of a little kid that’s tired and just wants to be at home. It reminded me of being out with my oldest when they were like 3 or 4 years old. They were a well-behaved child. No tantrums in stores or acting out, but when they were ready to go home they’d let me know. Not even getting loud, I could just tell they’d had enough.

Of course I’d take them to the toy aisle whenever we’d go to the store(as I did all my kids), and I’d usually let them pick up some random toy. As my oldest was packing they showed me this X-Files action figure they had. I’d bought it for them at Chimp’s Comix years ago. It was a weekly trip we took so my son could pick out a bunch of .50 comics to read for the weekend. My daughters were never all the excited, but they didn’t mind.

On that trip I must’ve had extra money so I told them each they could pick something out. No idea what my middle child grabbed, but my oldest found this vintage X-Files toy, still in the packaging. It was Agent Scully and some translucent man in what looked like a translucent cocoon. I’m sure it was a reference to an episode but I had no idea what episode it was.

Anyways, while my oldest was packing and she found that action figure still in the packaging on a shelf. I asked them if they were going to take it with them and they said “No, probably not.” So I put it up on top of my record cabinets in the basement, as a reminder of those Friday trips to Chimps and of a time when I never thought we’d get out of that little kid phase. Sitting here with an ice pack on my lower back I’d do anything to experience one of those Friday trips with all three of my kids just one more time.

The older I get the more sentimental I become. I hear echoes of “Enjoy it while it lasts because it goes by too fast” from people older than I that were probably in the same boat I’m in now. I’m feeling that empty nest getting closer and closer. There’s no way of getting it back, I know(anybody got a time machine you want to sell?) But I wish I could at least watch certain moments happen again. Like watching some old TV show, but the show is a trip to the comic shop. Or a marching band competition from 2014. Or experiencing the birth of my kids. Not the painful pushing and struggling, but after when I’m holding them for the first time.

I don’t want to BE that young, inexperienced parent again. I’m happy as the beat up and twisted 50 year old. But that strange and beautiful feeling that emanated from that bundled up little ball of crinkled face and humanity, that hit me harder than any offensive lineman did in 7th grade football practice did. I wish I could feel that undefinable and simultaneous fear and joy one more time.

But, I can’t. So I’ll be that voice to you that still echoes in my head, “Enjoy it while it lasts because it goes by too fast.”