Wednesday, January 14, 2009

DaddyBuster: 1, LittleBrotherBuster: 0

My parents have become world travelers in the last few years. They go to Mexico at least once a year and usually there’s another long trip thrown in, plus several weekend getaways. They’ve been to Spain, Italy, Malta, San Francisco, and Mexico all within the last 18 months.

I usually get the fun jobs of (1) driving them to the airport at unreasonable hours, (2) picking them up at the airport at unreasonable hours, and (3) driving out to their house in the sticks every other day while they’re gone to check on their fish, the cat, and the general state of things.

This time my parents are heading to Mexico and somehow I dodged the chauffer/house sitter bullet. My younger brother is picking up the slack. My parents’ furnace has been on the fritz and they’re worried about pipes freezing or bursting while they’re out of town. Since they know damned well that I’m not about to pack up my dog and husband and go out there to housesit, my younger brother is going to do it (he’s minus the dog and husband, though his girlfriend is less than delighted that he’s moving out for two weeks).

He and my dad had the following email exchange (edited to remove references to a car they are repairing):

DaddyBuster to LittleBrotherBuster:

We should make sure you know what you need to know about the house anyway, which we could do Thursday evening. Things like how to run the washer and dryer, where the reset switch is for the furnace (it’s been running great lately, but ya never know), where mom keeps the cat food, a bit about the aquarium, etc.

LittleBrotherBuster to DaddyBuster:
Jeez, I’m 23, don’t ya think I know how to run the washer and dryer…?

DaddyBuster to LittleBrotherBuster:

Actually, in a couple of weeks, you’ll be 24. But we’re parents, so we’re pretty sure you don’t know shit.

And the score is: DaddyBuster: 1, LittleBrotherBuster: 0.

1 comment:

MOLLY said...

I want to adopt your dad - he rocks.