Eclipse visitors

• Rustic Ramblings By Dr. Genie Ellis Zacharias Columnist

A gain, I’m writing a column related to the eclipse well before it takes place. I’m still washing towels and sheets, still need to remake beds and clean houses and studio yet again –before two of the three usual Houston Grumpies arrive for the eclipse. All this prepping, cleaning, and cleaning up afterwards is getting old, let me tell you.

The Grumpy who usually drives the Houston contingent up will have a girlfriend in tow. This will change the whole dynamic –which will be different anyway with fewer Grumpies present. The Girlfriend is an unknown quantity we didn’t know existed –a woman he’s apparently been seeing the last two years. The truth has only recently come out when he requested to bring a guest.

So many things begin to make sense now –the several times he stepped away to take a phone call or the times he’s been in a rush to return home when the others he brings would have liked to have lingered a bit longer. He previously left Houston in the early morning – once at 4 a.m. after he woke early and couldn’t go back to sleep. When he started picking up the two other two who live in the Houston area, they’d leave about 6 or 7 a.m. For the last three or four Grumpy Gatherings, he and his carpool left home much later, arriving at the ranch about 5 p.m. and leaving the next morning, before noon. It’s a long way to come for such a short visit. Whether they’re here for 12 hours or 20, I have the same amount of work as far as cleaning and changing beds and towels.

We should have known something was up when he began shortening the visits so drastically! We assumed it had something to do with the step-grandson he’s helped raise since before his wife passed away several years ago. And maybe that did initially have something to do with it. But now the real story is surfacing. The truth will win out!

This new information means that Zack’s old pal has been here five or six times during the last two years without ever breathing a word of this girlfriend to his dear, old friends. Hmmmmm… There must be a reason for this, and it might have something to do with a certain amount of ribbing he’d have likely endured from his childhood buddies. Maybe they’d behave themselves, but they usually don’t. Never have before. They seem to immediately morph into high school mode whenever they gather. So this should be interesting.

I’m delighted for this friend. He was widowed when his wife succumbed to ALS after a long, dreadful illness –and he became guardian of a pre-teen boy. So now at 76, I hope he’s found happiness again, and I expect we’re about to find out much more about his new, hopefully blissful relationship –perhaps more than we ever wanted to know. He, The Girlfriend, and our only female Grumpy will arrive the evening before the eclipse and leave after, as traffic allows. His other passenger says she didn’t know about the girlfriend either –until I recently told her– and quipped that it may be a very interesting ride.

Our other Houston Grumpy and his family will view the eclipse from near San Antonio where a daughter lives. TheAustin Grumpy and wife will experience the celestial event at their ranch in Mason County with two daughters and their families.

The last original Grumpy and wife won’t brave the traffic and never have spent the night. They haven’t joined the group much in the last few years, since both have unfortunately experienced serious health issues. The last time they came, a caregiver joined them in case of any problems on the road from Fort Worth. That was sort of a reality sandwich. Life is indeed full of change.

Am I playing the age card? Whining again? There’s no housekeeper here except me. I’m worn out from my kids’ visit and now preparing guest quarters for different occupants. All this cleaning and hosting –except to benefit my kids– appeals to me less now than ever. Back-to-back guests are an unwanted challenge. Back-to-back for me now means within a three or four-week –or perhaps three or four month– period. Once or twice a year would be far more than sufficient. My recovery time’s lengthened. I resent devoting so much time and energy to this work. I’m tired. I admit it. Perhaps I’m playing the age card after all.

Gene Ellis, Ed.D. is a Bosque County resident who returned to the family farm after years of living in New Orleans, New York, and Florida. She’s an artist who holds a doctoral degree from New York University and is writing a book about the minor catastrophes of life.