Boasting

Today I am going to try to deviate from what I consider to be my normal blogging style. I normally try to relate things that have happened to or around me (which many I am sure consider to be tales) I try to be humble, humorous and honest with whatever I describe. But today I am going to boast a little bit which is something I try my darndest to avoid. I have always found braggarts to be obnoxious and usually full of shit, even if in this day and age a lot of them are riding a wave of popularity. So at the risk of joining their ranks I am I am going to shed my modesty and brag about my son.

Every day I see on the news a parent standing behind their son or daughter no matter what heinous act or crime they have committed and I think what is wrong with these people.  Every day I think of how lucky I am to have four children and a grandson that I am proud of. I also have a great son-in-law and a future son-in-law who shows promise. But that scary thought looms in the back of my mind how would I handle a social stigma? I hope I would be as strong as the people I see on the news everyday who stand by their own even though they are ashamed and heartbroken.  So with that being said I realize how fortunate I am to be able to relate to you a little something about my son Joe. Everywhere I go with him in public he is the personification of a gentleman, pleasant, courteous and respectful. This has always pleased me and I credit his mother for that.  For if there is such a thing as a gentlewoman it is she.  I am sure he will not be too pleased that I relate the following incident. At home he is a convivial person but in public he is a much more laid back private person and will frown on me blogging this. Members of the family had gathered at a restaurant in Newburyport to observe Diana’s 30^th birthday and to wish her bon voyage as she was leaving the next day to fulfill her wish to spend the actual May 7 birthday in Paris. After the festivities were over Joe graciously picked up the check and said he was treating.  After perusing the bill he summoned the waitress and pointed out the fact she had .made a mistake.  As it turns out she had received cash from a different table and had inadvertently credited our table. The manager was summoned and a new bill was made. Joe did not tell anyone what transpired but as I was setting right next to him I took it all in. What he did added eighty dollars to his bill but saved the waitress the embarrassment of coming up short at the end of her shift. This was all done in a low key quiet manner. I could not have been more proud of him. So I feel justified about praising him.