Steve Griffin sits on my windowsill

You can never tell who and when people will think of you.

As for the Riera clan, we thought of Steve Griffin on our

vacation to North Carolina and I now see and think of him

every morning when I awaken to fix my coffee.

Why?

Because Steve G. sits on my windowsill.

The story is:

It is very hard to vacation with a grown family,

It makes it even more complicated when

the family is ours.

Ronnie decides he is going to treat all of us to a

vacation to NC to visit the only Riera family he knows.

His Uncle John and Aunt Donna graciously offered

their home to Ronnie and I,

Roddie and Katie,

and Jesi and Chase.

Now remember this group consists of

three men, two who do not like to shop,

While the three girls live for it.

There is this awesome gift shop right in front

of Aunt Donna's and Uncle John's street called

Ken's lamp shop.

As we prepare to visit this store

I remind all the boys that I will buy a souvenir,

I will look at everything in the store

and it will take me some time.

The girls are happy,

the boys.... not so much.

We enter and I automatically separate myself

from the group.

I am on a mission, a mission to find the perfect

gift for myself.

This is not always an easy feat.

Everything I purchase has to mean something to me.

It has to remind me of the place I have been,

the people I have seen, I have to feel something

when I look at this treasure.

So I am searching, the boys are pacing.

I come to this shelf that says,

"75% off"

Now you know Aunt Lil loves a bargain,

and I love miniatures and the shelf is

full of little gnome-like people

and I just know that I will have to choose one.

I walk away to view something else

and Roddie wants to know if I have found it yet?

NO, RODDIE I AM NOT READY TO GO!

He walks over to the 75% off shelf

puts something into his hand and says

he has found it, I have to buy the one in his hand.

I believe he is just telling me this to rush me and

I am just a little perturbed because I

believe I warned these boys.

He calls his Daddy over to view what he believes

must be my purchase.

Next thing I know, Ronnie, Roddie, Jesi, and Katie

are hovering over the item in Roddie's hand.

Now my interest is sparked.

I walk over and Rod introduces me to the find

saying,

"This thing looks just like Steve Griffin"

Then Ronnie has to put on his glasses

and take a good look,

they both start laughing and insisting

that it does indeed look like Steve.

Jesi is like, "Steve Griffin, who in the h**%

is Steve Griffin?!"

I remind her,

"Jesi you know, Steve Griffin, our old neighbor

who used to live in Gavin's house who used

to shoot armadillos in his back yard

with a shot gun."

"Oh, that Steve Griffin"

They lay him down and walk away,

Ronnie and Roddie still laughing at their antics.

However, I now have to walk over and really

look at this little gnome.

Yes, it does remind me also of Steve.

I remember when we first moved to 89th street

and he was indeed our neighbor

and he did indeed scare the

ever-living beejesus out of me when he decided

to shoot his gun at 10:00 at night to kill an

armadillo that was digging up his lawn.

So how could I leave Steve G.

over there at Ken's lamp shop

in North Carolina all alone never to be loved

by anyone who knows him

Yep, you guessed it I brought

Steve G. to our home to forever live with the Riera's

That is the story of why Steve Griffin

sits on my kitchen windowsill and why

our whole family sees him each and every time

we walk to our sink.

Yes, it is random but a day does not go by

that I do not think of Steve Griffin.

So, Steve, if your ears are ringing every morning at

about 5:00 am it's probably because one of

us Riera's are thinking or talking to you.