Title coming soon...Hurricane Henri, boyfriends and dinner

I was outside in back walking around doing the final clesn up before hurricane Henri hits. I open my phone and read Phil Everly has dead. I go inside to read the article and tell Teri. In the living room Teri is talking on her phone to Nastia. I sit down and wait to tell her. I put my feet up on the coffee table because of my bad left knee,as she ends her conversation. I say to her, " Phil Everly died." I look down to tell her his age when I hear her go, "ooohhh, Joe..." I didn't think she cared about him. She finishes, "your feet are covered with grass."

Both girls are working today and we have told them to be home tonight because of hurricane Henri. It was supposed to hit last night, nothing. This morning I hear it it hasn't turned west when they thought it would and will still hit the are, but you know.....The weather service is not like it used to be. They'd say cloudy with a chance of shower today and rain all day tomorrow and it would be sunny all day,even at night...The girls don't have any memory of that weather service, but they still treat the weather service like they were that good. They'll want to go out with their boyfriends tonnight and they'll say it's just rain. If we want to keep them home, they will stay. That will just guarantee the storm will misses us completely.

Nastia got up at 6:30 and is home around three. Elena didn't go in until after 10 and will be home around 6, I think. I told Elena we might need her to come home early today because of the weather, but rightnow that is not an issue. The weather was not as bad as it was supposed to be. Henri stayed right instead of drifting to the left in the Atlantic. Nastia texted, asking to go out with Brandon.She came home when I didn't answer her text. She asked if Brandon could come to dinner, then he was coming over to hang out with her, Then finally she asked if they could go out to the mall for a little while and Brandon would come for dinner. I told her to be home around 7. Around 6, she walks in the door saying they went to BJ's and decided to come home. I ask her if that meant Brandon was not coming to dinner, she said yes.I was not pleased. Later I would tell her Brandon Davided us (Promising to be there for something like taking my daughter out, then at the last moment coming up with a very poor excuse. David, "I have to take my grandmother to the store.") Monday, Elena has decided to invite Matt over again and she will cook dinner. It will be Chicken, mashed potatoes and a vegetable. It should be interesting. And yes this is a version of what I want Nastia and Brandon to do. She or they don't have to cook dinner, they just have to be regular visitors around here.

Teri and I had a talk about my anger/disappointment about Brandon not coming around the house. Teri is deathly afraid that I will scare Nastia and Brandon away. Teri thinks there will come a day very soon where Nastia will want to go somewhere with Brandon, like I don't know Puerto Rico and I will tell her she can't go because Brandon has not taken the interest in getting to know us and Nastia will say she is over twenty-one and doesn't have to listen to us anymore. Before I thought about this I would have fallen into the trap of saying if you go don't come back. Now I am prepared to say that if you go I will be very hurt. And when she comes back I will give her the cold shoulder for a few days showing her how hurt I am. I believe I make a mistake allowing Brandon to text he was outside on there first date and I allowed that because I was just as uncomfortable meeting him as he would have beenmeeting me. I have been playing catch up since then. And all I seem to be doing is losing ground. Matt is comfortable around here. I don't have to stand around and make conversation with him if I don't feel like it. He is comfortaqble enough to go get seconds at dinner and refill his plate and not worry he is taking too much. That is what I want for Brandon. If they get married Teri feels that if I have made this an uncomfortable place we will lose Nastia. We'll be the family getting the onece a month call, that we'll make and one of us will say How are you, her reply fine. What's going on in your life? Well, you know work and the kids say hi...... I'm trying to tell Teri were on that road now and if we don't get him over here we will one day be strangers to our grandkids. I'm going to leave hints and instructions for Elena to make dinner tonight. SHe wants to make chicken cutlets. So I'll take out the flour, a knife to cut and clean the chicken with and then I will text her instructions on how to make cutlets. Not ever having done this before will make it a challenge that she will rise to. She has changed alot in the last few years and I'm sorry if it sounds corny, but when you find that first love and it might be the one, it inspires you to greater heights. I think she is inspired. I left work early to make sure I was there to help Elena cook dinner. I'd left out some of the items she'd need if I'd been late. She texted about making the chicken cutlets saying she wasn't going to use the flour. I told her she needed to use the flour so the bread crumbs had something to stick to. I watched her clean the chicken cutting off all that crap they are allowed to leave on them. The mallett I'd had for years broke several weeks ago and I'd not gotten a new one, so we improvised and used a small cast iron pan to flaten the chicken. Every so often I'd wander away or drink some beer to let her do things on her own. I didn't want to be tempted to do things for her. I put the oil and butter in the large cast iron pan and turn on the heat. She floured, egged, then bread crumbed the cutlets and finally into the warm pan to brown. After they browned I told her to put them in a 300 degree oven to finish cooking and stay warm. I set out th eamounts of ingredients for the mashed potatoes because it was getting late. She made the mashed potatoes, warmed up the vegetables and around eight we were ready to eat. Dinner was really fun. Someone started a joke about crabs, not the one you want to catch. I recorded most of the conversation and I haven't seen Teri laugh that much in a good long time. It made me very happy. Clean up was quick and by nine and change everyone was finding a place to sit down and relax. I ended up in Teri's and my bed room. Matt and Elena were on the big set in the living room playing minecraft. Teri was sitting in the chair talking to them as they played. Nastia had gone up to her room to talk to Brandon.

Earlier in the night I'd had my talk with Nastia about Brandon coming over. Earlier Teri and I had talked about it and she had expressed her fear that I'd get angry with him not coming over and I'd have a fight with Nastia about it and she'd leave and we'd become the family thst got that call once a month and who would be the strangers to their grandkids. I took all of that good advise into account and changed how I was going to talk to her. I don't remember how I started, but I told her he needs to come over if she wants to go away with him. I also said I have and will make it as easy as possible for him. I will not scare him away. I will be friendly and as welcoming as possible, all he has to do is show up and become as comfortable as Matt now is here. I can walk in and say hello to Matt and leave. He has become part of the family and that is all I want for Brandon. I think Nastia finally understood. She said she'd ask him. I said no you tell him, this is important to you. You see that little finger on the left. I'm there, he should be on the right little finger. She laughed. /