Single Mom Slice Of Life: I Am Doing Something Right.. If You Count THIS!

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Single Mom Slice Of Life: I Am Doing Something Right.. If You Count THIS!

By Ella Rucker / October 2, 2012 / No Comments

Single Mom Slice Of Life:
I Am Doing Something Right.. If You Count THIS!

It was a hot and sunny Arizona afternoon when we decided, over all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet food, that it would be a dark and stormy night that would change our futures forever (ever… ever… ever).

Now, I haven’t been married, or dating (thanks for rubbing that in) for about 10 years so I can’t really comment on what normal conversation with a partner is like. I can only tell you what Nick, Justin and I talk about on a daily basis: school, chores, who did what, and who didn’t break it. So there we sat at lunch, slumped over our plates, one with a headache, one with a two-hour homework project looming, and one with a week-long test ahead of him. Even as I write this, I can’t remember who uttered the phrase, “We should run away from home” (though it does sound like something I would say). Whoever said it (yeah, it was probably me) started a two-hour conversation that had me looking from boy to boy, wondering what kind of person raises kids with this type of imagination.

The story below outlines the journey that ultimately changed Wendy, Nick, and Justin Woodward into Madge, Whittaker, and Linus Armstrong:

OUR PAST

– as told by Nick/Whittaker

We were an up and coming lip-synching group making our way up in the national rankings when Linus developed what would become a career ending case of laryngitis. Our heads hung in shame, we were forced to leave the bright lights and broken dreams of Las Vegas (where no one would ever check on us because what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas) and headed for the dark and desolate town of Middleofnowhere. Well, because we have no real marketing (I think he meant marketable) skills, we are forced to take refuge in a greasy spoon, owned by a grouchy old man named Bud.

OUR PLAN

– as told by Justin/Linus

Bud takes us in, where he makes Madge the waitress, Whittaker the shot order cook, and Linus a busboy. Madge lives in the apartment above the diner, Whittaker resides in a rusted old RV behind the diner (where he assures us that he will be the only one to survive the upcoming zombie apocalypse because he’ll be able to drive away – but I think that may be a different chapter in a very different book) and Linus seems quite content to reside beside the dumpster in a two story refrigerator box feeding his pet rat scraps of leftover food.

OUR FUTURE

– as told by both Whittaker and Linus

It would seem that crotchety old Bud eventually forms a bond with the Armstrong’s and considers us family. After a while he retires, and leaves the diner to us to feed both truckers and/or refugees from the upcoming zombie apocalypse. We will never regain the fame and fortune we once had as championship lip synchers, but Whittaker finds fame with his award-winning coleslaw. Linus trains his pet rats and starts a rat circus to end all other rat circuses, and Madge, well, she eventually goes crazy trying to convince people she once won the national championship for lip-synching Copacabana.

Now, I don’t know if this conversation is what had the guy sitting next to us laughing, but he did wink at us when we left. Admittedly the brotherly bond that is sometimes lacking came back in a rush was nice to see, it was also a little scary when I motioned that maybe running away wasn’t really a good idea only to be told, “we either all go together or we don’t go at all… get on board!” Still, I don’t care why, where, or with what names they did it, but it was nice to be in our own world for a bit without outside influences; even if that world includes zombies and grouchy diner owners named Bud.

Now, if only I can get them to stop calling me Madge…

What comes from your kids when they let their imaginations run wild? When was the last time you went along for the ride?