I'm Super Good at Electronics!

Picotte Chronicles Installment 3

Picture it: my then 8 year old son is standing in the middle of the living room with every cable connecting the television to the stereo system unplugged in his boyish fists.  The Super Bowl is gearing up for the coin toss behind him on the television. The house is full of visitors invited over to watch the game. He has a grin on his face from ear to ear and thinks he is being the most helpful assistant possible.

Now a little backstory… my husband was deployed (again) halfway around the world and I was doing my best to make every day as positive as I could. The result was an impromptu Super Bowl party with some friends. I was also fortunate to have met Chris and Mandy before Paul had to leave and Mandy (a fellow military spouse) and I quickly bonded like long lost friends.  Those two definitely helped me get through that deployment by making me their unapologetic third-wheel.

So there we were preparing to watch the big game. Snacks and drinks are on point. Everyone is settled and comfortable.  I have the TV on and go to switch the stereo on in order to have the complete arrangement. Power is turned on…nothing. I try it a few more times hoping that the next time, despite doing the exact same thing as before, will suddenly be successful.  Nothing. I couldn’t, despite racking my brain, remember the electronic lesson my husband had given me before leaving and the sound system wasn’t working. I decided to ask Chris to take control and see if he could figure out how to turn the sound on for the TV.

He started looking behind the stereo to see where it was hooked up to the TV, when he suddenly turned around. There stands Brody, the family professor and self-proclaimed gamer, with almost every cable that had previously been plugged into the stereo, in his hands. Unplugged!  Chris started laughing as Brody proclaimed, “I’m super good with electronics!”

Needless to say, we had to call my main man in the middle of the night on the other side of the world so he could walk Chris through the reinstallation process. Good thing he finds everything Brody does as the funniest thing ever.  That evening, we all got a good laugh from his antics. He still thought what he did was a great help because shortly after he completely disconnected everything, it was back up and running.

Despite the delay, we had the surround sound functioning correctly before the initial kick off of the game. Everyone got to talk to Paul while he was deployed and good food was shared with lifelong friends. Although it was one of the loneliest times having to be apart from my husband, my silver lining was having a supportive group of friends and family to make it a little better.