tromboneliness

Back in 2011, when I was cleaning out my parents' house in preparation to sell it (this is after my Dad died in 2010), I'd stop -- usually in the late afternoon -- and try calling one of their old friends, just to say hello, make sure they knew that my parents had died, and try to get a bit of their perspective on them.

I talked to several of these fossilized relics from a bygone era, but eventually gave up on it -- because basically none of them had any idea what it would have been like to be their kid. There was one -- this guy must be 95 or so by now -- who had known both of my parents before they were married, and said that he had warned my Dad that my Mom was crazy (really bad bipolar, which was true -- and back then, they didn't have much in the way of meds for it).

What I was missing, of course, is that naturally, my parents' friends were going to be hard-drinking psychos like they were, and thus unable to get the concept of family life being anything other than a nonstop party, and how could any kid have a problem with that? Ya, OK, I'll get back to you on that....

T