Raymond posts killer photo of his dad on FB taken when he was in the service and we got married

I thought well, when a man has the power to be the father of your kids, you take that and are grateful.  Yes, we had trouble and I eventually divorced him, but here we were years later at the Westward Ho to what else a karaoke party. (header photo)  I invited him because the karaoke king, Pierre Laliberte, was going through the divorce and had gotten drunk. The karaoke couple Pierre hired cost $500 so rather than have that go to waste, I asked Dean to come to the party to sing.  I thought he could kind of take Pierre's place.  At the time I knew I liked Pierre but had no idea we would get together and become companions for over three years. 

I remember Vanna, who loved to sing, fell right in love with Dean when she found out we weren't together.  He was just the father of my two older sons, and we were on good enough terms he agreed to come to the party. People could tell he could sing.  Raymond couldn't come and sing because he had been invited to another New Years Party.  Photo is of Dean when he was living in Hawaii with his second wife.
Pierre made me pay quite a price later on for inviting Dean as he was just sure we had gotten together.  I said no, I never got together with Dean again after we divorced.  He asked me after his second divorce, but I knew it wouldn't work.  I told him we just needed to be friends, so we were.

Raymond dropped by this evening after he went to an AA meeting in this part of town.  He was yawning, said he hadn't been sleeping.  Said his feet burned and he wondered if it was gout as his Uncle Verl on his dad's side had it.  Gout!  My son is thinking he's got gout.  Lord, I must be old.  We made a date to talk about plays on camera as a mother and son playwright duo as they dubbed us back when he had a theater company called Playwright's Workshop.  To think that's been around 20 years ago.  He went on to write more plays for the young crowd at Metro Arts Charter high school where he taught theater for ten years, "Charley Foster", his most successful high school play which Anchor published, along with "Amy's Attic" a children's play of his I just love he wrote for Playwrights Workshop. All about characters in the circus! Clowns, Siamese twins, and high wire walkers. The photo of Raymond is when he was 'teach' at Metro Arts.   
Now he feels a little 'broken' after hip surgery, years of strenuous gymnastics,and just general wear and tear.  He's been recovering from high school overload which forced him to make a career change.  He's looking for a lighter work load, maybe teaching theater at a Junior college.  I even wonder if that might be too demanding because he has been working so hard on his singing and guitar playing.  He would always wear two or three hats at the same time. Personally I think he is a real good actor-performer and that might be his niche in old age.  The guy can deliver a song with his acting ability. His dad was a little shy with the theatrics.  He had a fantastic voice, but he just would not project all the time.  He was too modest and retiring for a lead singer.
Got to go now.  Raymond's been blogging again.  Love it when my family blogs.  Entertains me.  We got to entertain each other first is my motto before we can even think of entertaining somebody else.  Come Friday Raymond and I will go to the park, set up chairs, and just talk about writing plays for you all.  When I was a kid my ledge climbing pal and I would provide the party goers with plays we made up on the spot.  When we sisters got together we would inevitably but on a show to entertain each other.  The kids came along and started doing shows, and we parents would watch and praise.  Raymond even turned somersaults and walked on his hands like my sister Linda and talked about running away to be a clown in the circus.
Like I say entertaining starts at home and just expands to include audiences who want and need entertainin'.  In his dad's home town men would get together in the evening and sing on the street corners.  That was a singin' town. When his dad was 9 years old some visiting relation hired him to go along and entertain them with his singing while they toured the scenic spots.  I was fascinated.  Imagine earning money entertaining at 9 years old. Guess I never forgot that, and years later perked up my ears when we were introduced. His name was destiny.....