My middle son Luc called me today while I was washing my car….with Bella “helping me.” How dirty does a car have to be in the winter time with a four year old princess attached to my leg before one decides it has to be done? Before going out to the driveway I consulted Alexa about the weather and she informed me it was a sultry 38 degrees. I double checked the exterior of my vehicle to decide if it was 38 degrees dirty….yes it was. I gave my little sweetie all the loose change in my center console….she loves coins. I told her to sit out of the range of my hose’s spray and count the coins. I instructed her to tell me how much is there before she gets up to help me. I thought this would buy me a bit of time to work independently. A minute later she was back.

“Did you get those coins counted?”

“Yep….all done Boss.”

“How many coins did I give you?”

“You gave them all to me Boss and I put them in my piggy bank.”

Bella is a smart little girl. She isn’t fooled by busy work. She wants her own bucket, her own sponge, and her own hose. She is there to help and she needs the necessary equipment. I tried to explain to Bella that I am a one man car washing show so I don’t have another bucket, another sponge, or another hose. She was most adamant about helping so I went to the garage where I found a scrub brush. I told her she could help by washing the tires. This satisfied her level of commitment to the project and she went to work on tire number one. It was with some difficulty that I tried to explain that she couldn’t be washing the tire where I was trying to rinse the car. I asked her to wash a different tire other than the one directly in the hose’s line of fire. After all it’s 38 degrees in the winter time not 90 degrees in the summer time. She didn’t want to wash a different tire because “the other tires are too far away from you Boss…I want to stay close to you.” Sometimes she is so stinking adorable I could just pinch her head off.

My nerves and patience were about expended when I answered the call. I was washing the car so I didn’t have my phone in my pocket because I didn’t want it to get wet. It was far enough away to stay dry yet near enough so that I could hear it if it rang. I had just hung up the phone from my most dearly beloved who was out running some errands. She called and asked what I was doing. I explained that I was washing my car and that Bella was “helping” me while simultaneously driving me bat #*&$ crazy…..only I didn’t say #*&$. She also called to see if I minded if she stayed out a bit longer because she had one or two more places to go. Since Bella was making me nuts she would come home immediately. I told her to do what she wanted to do and that I would be fine. I put the phone down and went back to work on my car. Just as I had the rear quarter panel lathered up and ready to rinse the phone rang again. I tossed the soapy sponge in the bucket and walked back to my phone. It was Luc. The first words out of my mouth were, “I might be able to get something done around here if people would stop blowing up my phone!” My threshold for a blown up phone must be two calls from two different people within five minutes of each other. I really suck sometimes.

“Sorry dad…uh…if this isn’t a good time…I could uh…I really just called to ask you something.”

Years of experience have taught me that an opening line like that means someone has jammed themselves up and needs money. They must be seriously jammed up if they’re calling me. I just gave all my money to Bella. I asked him what was up.

“Have you ever seen anyone who had been shot in the face?”

I told him of the time I had arrived at a convenience store just after someone had been shot in the head but before the police and EMTs arrived. “Why are you asking me this?”

Luc works for an extended stay hotel and he was walking the property. The rooms are typically small studio apartments. The room cost is usually paid by the week. He heard a TV that was exceptionally loud so before people started complaining about the noise he decided to instruct the occupant to lower the volume. He knocked on the door but nobody answered. He used his master key to enter the room where he found Jack. Jack had committed suicide by shooting himself in the face……with a shotgun.

“Luc, I am so sorry you had to see that…are you okay?”

“I must have thrown up four times but I’m okay. The police and coroner are leaving. I guess Jack rented a room to die in.”

“Luc there are a lot of people who lose hope or see their circumstances as hopeless so they give up. Sometimes they do what Jack did. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m gonna go home and go to bed.”

“That was a traumatic thing that happened to you. If you want to talk to a professional to help you process what happened just let me know.”

“Love ya dad, bye.”

Luc called his grandmother, his dad, and his mom. We are the three people who love him most. I’m glad I’m on his list of “go to” people when bad stuff happens.

I have to finish washing this car. It’s not getting any warmer.