All hands on the bad one...
It is amazing how little and how much has happened in the past month or so.
I have been trying to adjust to not having Pappy around. I’ve caught myself more than once reaching for the phone to call or suddenly wondering if I need to go over to see him. Obviously these slips are happening with less frequency now that it has been just over a month since the funeral, but I think they will be a lifelong occurrence.
I have refrained from speaking to a majority of my extended family since the funeral. Pappy wasn’t even in the ground before they all congregated like vultures, trying to figure what of his and Grandma’s they could walk away with. I managed to tell off my drug addicted, fresh-out-of-prison-and-already-living-in-Grandpa’s-house the day before funeral by saying she and her family made me sick and I wish we were burying her in Pappy’s stead. It was not my most dignified oratory, but I cannot say I regret it - poor timing be damned!
Thankfully the process of reintroducing myself to social settings have proven fruitful. Jody and I caught the David Sedaris event in town this past week. Afterwards, we joined a group of people waiting to get books signed before heading to the Royal Mile to catch up over drinks. She started a new job last month and with everything else going on, we just haven’t had much opportunity to go out like we used to.
The following Saturday I spent the day at Dennetta and Andy’s new house and helped with some painting. One of their college friends (his name was Matt) joined us at the house and we spent more time listening to album and talking than actually painting. Dan and Melinda joined the three of us at a coffee shop where we met up with a couple other people before heading downtown to hit the World Food Fair and a few pubs. An exceptionally good time was had and I really enjoyed getting to know Matt.
I suppose I should backtrack momentarily to tell the tale of an event that occurred the day before. My schedule has been a bit wonky recently, so I took advantage of some downtime Friday afternoon to pick up a few necessities for the impending D.C. trip. I found myself at Jordan Creek so I could hit up the Apple store to replace my long-missing iPod. Since I was in full-on lackadaisical mode, I proceeded to meander around the mall. I went in to Spencer’s to grab a birthday card for celebration I was attending and struck up conversation with the guy behind the counter. I do not mean mere small talk, either…I believe we talked for over an hour. I can count on one hand the number of times something like that has transpired (I can count it using one finger, if I am being honest) and found myself flummoxed when I left. I kept thinking, “Should I have given him my number or made an equally bold and un-Niki like move?” I must have been feeling particularly brazen, because I went back in to Spencer’s with my number on a piece of paper. I handed it over to him and told him to give me a call if he found himself out on the town. He texted me late Saturday night to say he had decided to stay in. We exchanged a few more non-eventful texts and haven’t heard from him since. I’ll keep you posted, but this seems fairly D.O.A.
I leave for D.C. Thursday (!!!!) and am anxiously counting down the seconds. Exciting times, ahoy!