My father acquired a new hobby. He’s always been heavily into the military. The  Meeks have served in the Army, Marines, and Air Force. In fact, my father still does military funerals. He’s always been organized and helpful. Now he’s known in the family as something else. He’s become known as The Laminator. I was visiting my father when my cousin came in the door. Taking a couple of cards out of his wallet, he laid them down and said “Uncle Clint, could you laminate these for me?” Dad quickly retrieved the laminator and grabbed the cards. He said not a word, but went quickly to work. My cousin stated that a lot of his business cards were now laminated. Dad took the laminator out of the box, the styrofoam off the ends, plugged it in, and went to work. When he was done, he let it cool down; put the styrofoam ends back on, and in the box. If he laminated fifteen times a day, he would do this procedure fifteen times. It always goes back in the box.

Dad’s reputation is growing. His new role in the family is “the laminator.” You’ve heard of the exterminator, you’ve heard of the Terminator, now, I offer to you the laminator. My Dad is a reasonable, common sense kind of person. But what if a different kind of person gets hold of a laminator? You know the kind. There’s one in every family. The reason you stay away from the holiday nut assortment at your local grocery store, because it brings up bad memories. The person on the edge. One cat away from being the crazy cat lady. One more item and you’re a hoarder. What if they get their hands on a laminator? It could be disastrous. Patching Machine

You’re living in house with this person. You pick up your bills to pay them only to find they are laminated. You walk into your living room to sit on the couch to relax, and as you put your drink on the chair side doily, you realize it’s laminated. You’re going to bed. You climb in, only to find your pillowcase has been laminated, and makes a crinkling sound every time you turn your head. You’re seated at your kitchen table, and you realize all your cloth placemats are laminated, as well as your napkins. You pull your underwear out of the drawer only to find they’re laminated too, along with your socks. You go to the kitchen to make a grilled cheese sandwich, and find that all your cheese slices are laminated, but only after they first took the plastic film off. Finally, you go into the bathroom and find all your toilet paper is torn into little squares, and laminated for future use. 

This person who lives in your house is out of control. Their bills don’t get paid, and the entire house falls into disrepair. 

I’m so glad Dad is our family laminator instead of some crazy. He might enjoy laminating, but he’s not going to go overboard. He’s practical, and will only laminate if it’s useful. He bought it originally to laminate these articles. I guess he is saying that my articles are useful, or at least entertaining. I hope you think so too. 

Authors bio: Toni Meek thinks things which are laminated are pretty cool.

Authors tip: Think twice about which things you laminate.

Electric Laminator Sturgis Writer’s Mill is a community of writer’s who constructively support and challenge each other as they discover their unique voices. Any opinion expressed is solely that of the author.