Life can be so funny. You can be sitting there minding your own business when all of a sudden some random sound, image, or smell unlocks a memory that carries you off on a mini roller coaster ride of emotions. I had one of those experiences just now. I don't want to forget it, so I'm putting it here.

I was sitting here wasting away my summer vacation watching a movie on Amazon Prime. It is a comedy about a bunch of down on their luck people who are either living or working in a seedy motel in Niagara Falls. It is called, predictably, Niagara Motel. I am enjoying it because it is a quirky feel good kind of flick. Those seem to be what I enjoy most lately.

Anyway, in the movie there is about a twenty second scene showing the motel maintenance man clipping a little hedge. Though it makes no difference as to why I am posting this, I should tell you that the guy is a bit of a drunk. You see, his new bride fell overboard off one of those Niagara Falls boats as he was taking a photo of her on their honeymoon. That's the kind of weird back story they have throughout the film, giving it the quirkiness I really like. The simple act of clipping the hedge triggered memories of my daddy.

Daddy was a bit OCD, just like his grandson, Jared, and me. None of us were ever OCD enough for therapy, but Daddy did have a few interesting little hangups which I now find amusing. For example, Daddy weighed himself every day and posted his weight on a calendar. When he died, there was a stack of these calendars about two feet high. He also scoured the obituaries every day and wrote down the names and ages of anyone who died who was younger than he. (Yep. I realize how crazy that one sounds.) The hedge clipping scene in the movie, however, made me think of my daddy's issues with trimming bushes.

Daddy was a trimaholic. He simply could not be trusted to trim a bush, unless you really hated the bush. He would stand there looking at it for awhile, as if he saw a vision of what it could be. Then, in only a matter of minutes, he would clip branches off until all that was left were a few scraggly sticks. It drove Mom crazy. She would see him walk through the house with his clippers, and shout, "Wait a minute, Barry. What are you planning on doing with those?" Then she would stand there and supervise his work to make sure he didn't kill another of her plants.

I guess I need to thank the motion picture industry for triggering this little memory gem. The movie has been on pause for over thirty minutes. I feel like Daddy is here beside me wandering down these wonderful little memory trails. Like I said at the start... Life can be so funny.