The Chattering Crow: Excessive happiness

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Excessive happiness

On Christmas Eve the Charles Plummer family, my sister, Janie, and we were in the middle of dinner when an assertive knocking pounded our door. I may have said, "Who the hell is that?" because no one called up from the foyer to be let in the building. Also, because I am one of those people who likes to swear in front of the children.

I got up to answer and there stood the Edmund Plummer family from Pittsburgh clustered together, smiling at me. I gawped at them. Big time gawp. "What are you doing here?" Gawp gawp gawp.

They had driven from Pittsburgh to surprise their families. Everyone jumped from the table to hug the newcomers. Noise levels rose to astonishing decibels. I don't remember the rest of the evening, except that I was excessively happy.

5 comments:

Gold-EDecember 28, 2011 at 8:18 AM
Best Christmas Eve ever!! I would be excessively happy too if my out-of-town family did that to me.
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SarahDecember 28, 2011 at 12:39 PM
That freaking ROCKS!
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twebsterarmstrongDecember 28, 2011 at 5:32 PM
* * * * * * *

(Star Star Star Star)

Thank you for sharing your FUN family.
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RachelDecember 28, 2011 at 8:14 PM
Uh based on my Sissy's comment, I failed to give her the Christmas miracle she was wishing for. Sorry. But I am so happy for you Louise, because we have surprised my Dad on his birthday and it was fun.
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BBBDecember 30, 2011 at 9:11 PM
What a wonderful surprise! One of the fondest memories I have of my great-grandmother, is of her saying swear words. Love. Damn and hell. Hell and damn.
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You can quote me:

"The beautiful is as useful as the useful." Victor Hugo
"I don't want the damned sportsmanship award."
"Jesus glows in the dark like my pajama tops" George Plummer, age 4
"Our parents are crazy as hell." Sam Plummer, 2016
"Grandma, your hands are old." Sally Plummer, age 3.
"Expect the end of the world. Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts." Wendell Berry
"Sitting is the new smoking is the new bullshit." Tom Plummer, 2014
"Never move an old tree." Dutch saying.
"I am universally offensive." Dede Plummer, 2014
"I don't want to see any movie with the word 'guys" in the title." Tom Plummer, 2013.
"Please bless Grandma. And Grandpa. That they can have a nice time. In their apartment." Louis Plummer, age 4.
“Don’t be afraid to be confused. Try to remain permanently confused. Anything is possible. Stay open, forever, so open it hurts, and then open up some more, until the day you die, world without end, amen.” George Saunders
"Hello, my name is Tom, and I'll be your spouse this evening." Tom Plummer, 2012
Me: " Jesus knows EVERYTHING." Hank (10), "Yeah? How many fingers am I holding up?"
"In my end is my beginning." T.S. Eliot
"Nothing has prepared her for the wide, grey simplicity of sadness and for the knowledge that this is what the rest of her life will be like." Carol Shields
"My life has been a fog, but the only light, the only clarity-- has come from the simplicity of putting permanent ink on paper." Rian Plummer, age 17.
"When I die I'm leaving my body to science fiction." Steven Wright
"Does anybody need to go poopies?" Louis Plummer, age 3
"I grew up in the wide and spacious building." Charles Plummer, 2011
"Pride is a such a useless handicap." Christina Putney
"You are not too old and it is not too late to dive into your increasing depths where life calmly gives out it's own secret" — Rainer Maria Rilke
"Don't retire; retread your tires." Lucy Jarvis
"Grandma is never boring." Mira Plummer, age 8
"Not all who wander are lost." J.R.R. Tolkien
"The only way to get what you really want is to let go of what you don't want." Iyanla Vanzant
"Being in your body is a good place to be." Beatrix Ost
"I'm the world's oldest teenager." Iris Apfel, age 89