76 Trombones

La versión en español está después de la versión en inglés.

I woke up this morning with the song 76 Trombones playing in my head. Oh, wait, it’s San Geraldo’s birthday! I’m not quite sure when he got so old, but you’d never know it to look at him or talk to him, except when he tries to send a text message. It amazes me to think we’ve spent well over half our lives together. We have no big plans for the day.

We’re still waiting for the new comfy chair to arrive. It was supposed to be here yesterday after a two-month wait. I had been receiving updates on delivery for the past several days. No updates yesterday. I went online throughout the day to check status and that finally changed late in the afternoon to say the chair would be delivered after 8 p.m. At 8:09 I checked again online and the information said it would be delivered in a week. Excuse me? I was able to at least get quick response online from customer service. That update was boilerplate, I was told. There was a problem en route and the chair will be delivered today. We’ll see. Nothing has been updated online and I have received no message.

Meanwhile, I’ll spend another day waiting, except when I leave to get my hair buzzed and my beard trimmed in preparation for San Geraldo’s birthday dinner tonight. A casual dinner out, just we two. There really should be a parade. I’ve included a song (not 76 Trombones) at the end that to me was written for San Geraldo.

The image below is a screen capture of a series of messages on WhatsApp that began to arrive at 2:53 in the morning in New York when I was hoping to get a good night’s sleep before my flights home. San Geraldo was trying to order a taxi per my instructions so he could take Dudo to the vet. The only thing I forgot to tell him was where to start on WhatsApp to reach the taxi company. The first six text messages came to me in New York. He started correctly by typing Pide taxi which means Order Taxi. When they didn’t immediately respond (because the message was sent to me), he kept trying but his big fingers and auto-correct caused some problems. Then, he accidentally phoned me at 3:57 a.m. and again at 4:19. Happy birthday, San Geraldo!

Me desperté esta mañana con la canción 76 Trombones sonando en mi cabeza. Oh, espera, ¡es el cumpleaños de San Geraldo! No estoy muy segura de cuándo se hizo tan viejo, pero nunca lo sabrías al mirarlo o hablar con él, excepto cuando intenta enviar un mensaje de texto. Me sorprende pensar que hemos pasado más de la mitad de nuestras vidas juntos. No tenemos grandes planes para el día.

Todavía estamos esperando que llegue la nueva y cómoda silla. Se suponía que llegaría ayer después de una espera de dos meses. Había estado recibiendo actualizaciones sobre la entrega durante los últimos días. No hubo actualizaciones ayer. Me conecté a Internet durante todo el día para verificar el estado y eso finalmente cambió a última hora de la tarde para decir que la silla se entregaría después de las 8 p.m. A las 8:09 volví a verificar en línea y la información decía que se entregaría en una semana. ¿Disculpe? Al menos pude obtener una respuesta rápida en línea del servicio de atención al cliente. Esa actualización era un texto estándar, me dijeron. Hubo un problema en el camino y la silla será entregada hoy. Ya veremos. No se ha actualizado nada en línea y no he recibido ningún mensaje.

Mientras tanto, pasaré otro día esperando, excepto cuando me vaya a cortarme el pelo y recortarme la barba para prepararme para la cena de cumpleaños de San Geraldo esta noche. Una cena informal, solo nosotros dos. Realmente debería haber un desfile. He incluido una canción (no 76 Trombones) al final que para mí fue escrita para San Geraldo.

La imagen de abajo es una captura de pantalla de una serie de mensajes en WhatsApp que comenzaron a llegar a las 2:53 en Nueva York cuando esperaba poder dormir bien antes de mis vuelos a casa. San Geraldo estaba tratando de pedir un taxi según mis instrucciones para poder llevar a Dudo al veterinario. Lo único que olvidé decirle fue dónde comenzar en WhatsApp para comunicarse con la compañía de taxis. Los primeros seis mensajes de texto me llegaron en Nueva York. Comenzó correctamente escribiendo Pide taxi, que significa Pedir Taxi. Cuando no le respondieron de inmediato (porque el mensaje me lo habían enviado a mí), siguió intentándolo, pero sus grandes dedos y el corrector automático le causaron algunos problemas. Luego, me llamó por teléfono sin querer a las 3:57 y nuevamente a las 4:19. ¡Feliz cumpleaños, San Geraldo!

Author: Moving with Mitchell

From Brooklyn, New York; to North Massapequa; back to Brooklyn; Brockport, New York; back to Brooklyn... To Boston, Massachusetts, where I met Jerry... To Marina del Rey, California; Washington, DC; New Haven and Guilford, Connecticut; San Diego, San Francisco, Palm Springs, and Santa Barbara, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Irvine, California; Sevilla and then Fuengirola, Spain. And now Córdoba.

42 thoughts on “76 Trombones”

    1. Boud:
      SG will read all these comments and be grateful. Amazingly, he IS somewhat of a techie. One of his job titles was associate vice chancellor for academic information technology. Sadly, that didn’t include texting!

      Reply

  5. Happy Birthday, SG! I’ll be eligible for that trombone song next year. Stay strong and don’t let the texting get you down. Good you have Mitchell the Tech Guy in your corner. 🙂 Mary

    Reply

    1. Mary:
      We both have some tech experience in our professional backgrounds. SG was in charge of academic information technology. Two problems, however: 1) He had “people.” 2) That was before texting!

      Reply

    1. janiejunebug:
      I love the song and SG. I should get a photo of his huge fingers trying to hit the correct keys on his iPhone.

      Reply

  7. Felicitations to SG! – with oodles more yet to come. Have the happiest of days!

    I too referenced that ‘Music Man’ song in my own blog on reaching the same back in 2022 – though I suppose I was also going for the most obvious. This year, at 79, nothing comes to mind for that number…….yet.

    Raybeard.

    Reply

  10. When it arrives, who has first pick of the comfy chair? I wonder if you’ll wish you’d ordered two.
    Bonnie in Minneapolis

    Reply

  11. “76 Trombones” Hmm. Don’t tell me San Geraldo once played pool, which starts with a P and that rhymes with T and that spells trouble!

    Anyway, a happy birthday to him.

    Reply

  19. And now I’m crying. Twenty years ago I pretty much lived and died on the Chicks.
    Happy birthday to that sweet man of yours. May there never be enough. Ever. Even when we have WhatsApp mishaps and accidentally wake our loves.
    Moonsigh

    Reply

    1. Ms. Moonsigh:
      I love the Chicks, their stunning music and lyrics, all they stand for. SG is surprisingly tech savvy but absolutely loathes the teensy keyboards on smart phones … and texting. “Why is the a 36 displayed above my WhatsApp icon?” “That’s 36 messages you haven’t read!”

      Reply

  20. Warm birthday greetings to SG. Enjoy!
    From wcs. The id info fields don’t seem to be working for me this morning. 🙁

    Reply

  21. Ohhh
    Dinner for two sounds fab. Please wish him a Happy Birthday from us (it’s noon here, so you guys are probably having dinner now).
    And the whole auto correct in WhatsUpp is a mess.
    And don’t stress! The chair will get there!

    XOXO

    Reply

    1. Sixpence Notthewiser:
      The Kid Brother said “Cancel it! Get a refund!” But he can be a hothead. We’ll give it until Monday. If no chair by the end of the day, we’ll cancel, demand a refund, and start over again. I’ve lined up some other options, but I don’t like them as much as the one we chose. As for WhatsApp, fortunately, I can hit undo a couple times when I’m on my computer and I can get back the text that disappeared, save, and continue on. I’m getting good at it… except for the FUCK ME that I blurt out every time. When I was trying to create my blog in NYC on my iPad, it wasn’t as easy to reverse back, so I retyped entire posts several times.

      Reply

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