Jim's Dad

Jim's dad. I have known him since 1986. He has inadvertantly given me alot of material for this blog. One of the earliest memories I have of his father took place on a spring day in 1987. Jim and his younger brother were helping his father do some yard work. Basically they were taking yard waste and throwing it back in the woods. There are military manuevers not orchastrated as well as this yard clean up. His dad is gifted in giving orders. So Jim and his brother work all day. No goofing off at all. This, if you know Jim or his brother, was very hard. So at the end of the day his dad tells them they are done. Than, he said it. A phrase that will live in infamy in the Hevesy family. "Alright boys, you're done, now don't forget to check each other for....snakes." Snakes. That's all they had to hear. Jim and his brother started poking each other with long sticks and jumping around yelling "SNAKE!" 18 years later, whenever our kids come in from being outside my husband says "better check each other for snakes." We know his dad meant ticks. We also know it's more fun to remind him of the mistake every time we get a chance. His dad's driving is something that often amuses us. One time, and this is an important point...we were following him to Virginia Beach. We were following him. He was in front of us. Keep that in mind. So Jim and I are following him. He's a dodger and a weaver. But Jim was up to the challenge. So we're dodging and weaving right with him. As we're going along his dad pulls over on the side of the interstate and we pull over. Now i must mention that Jim is 22. Years Old at the time. His dad comes back to the truck and says "get your money out for the toll." This would have seemed helpful if we were not...25 MILES from the nearest toll. 25 miles. His dad was completely serious. Those tolls come up on you fast, like in a half hour....25 miles down the highway. I guess he was afraid we wouldn't see the 10 or more signs or the yellow flashing lights. Thanks dad. The best part is, Jim is such a good son, he took out his dollar right than. 25 miles before the toll. So we're going along for a couple of hours and we see his dad zip across a couple of lanes and go off an exit. No blinkers, nothing. No sign that he realizes we were supposed to be following him. Now this was before we all had cell phones. We can't get over quick enough and Jim knows it's not our exit. So we have no choice but to go to the next exit and get off and hope we can backtrack and find him. Was he sick? Did he REALLY have to go to the bathroom? Was he having car trouble? Yeah, it would be none of the above. When we finally caught up with him hours later at our destination, we found out the reason for the quick exit. He thought he had followed US off the exit. He thought we took a sharp turn and left the highway. So he followed us. Completely forgetting that WE WERE FOLLOWING HIM! We had been following him for like 3 hours! And he sees another black pickup and follows it. How far did he follow it? Like, to their driveway. Jim's like, are you serious dad? Yes. He was serious. He forgot we were following him. And I still married his son after that. The combination of the internet and his dad has offered quite a few humorous moments. For about a month we and his parents had the same internet company. We set up a "buddy list." So, we would know when our friends and family were online and we could instant message them. Yeah. Not gonna happen with the in-laws. So one night we get on the internet and discover that his parent's are online. My daughter gets excited and wants to instant message them. It goes down something like this. Hi Pop Pop and Me-Mom. Nothing. Hi Pop Pop and Me-Mom it's Allison. Nothing. Hi Pop Pop.....it's Allison.....Hevesy. Nothing. Jim starts shaking his head. Why are they ignoring her? So, she tries again. Hi Pop Pop and Me-Mom..it's Allison Hevesy....and Alex....and Ethan.....Hevesy.... your grandchildren......nothing. So Jim tries to call them. Line is busy. Dial-up. So Jim tries. Dad...it's Jim..your SON...we know you're there......answer us. Nothing. After a couple of minutes they shut off their internet. Jim calls them. What are you doing? Why were you ignoring us? Oh, we saw what you were saying but we thought you were people trying to steal our.....identity. Oh, you mean thieves who call you Pop Pop and Me-Mom? Alrighty then. As I think about the combination of our two families. I'm pretty much thinking, I don't see this blog ending any time soon.