Ryan Remains in Ohio / Now it's Official / Faren Versus Stairs / Watching Over My Broken Ladies
My brother, Ryan, who has been in Ohio since late June, was expected to come home last Tuesday. For a week or so leading up to then, we hadn't heard a word from him about specifics about the flights. It wasn't until Monday morning last week when he finally answered our calls and emails, insisting -- to our befuddlement -- that we should all just calm down and relax. He'd decided, once again, to skip coming home and stay in Ohio with his girlfriend for another thirty days (Surprise, surprise). My mother didn't take that very well, and she wrote him a somewhat angry email in which she pretty much told him that as long as he claims to live here in Oregon but would rather be in Ohio an not keep us in the loop, that he should just stay in Ohio and not come home at all. Surprisingly, after that, Ryan suddenly became more visible online and on the phone. My mom's email must have struck a chord of, "Wake the hell up," as he's also promised to tell us immediately when he's reassigned into a new flight, which could be as far away as September. He also claims this will be his last return delay. We'll see.
Dating Leann continues! Her and I see each other as often as possible. A big event was Saturday night when one of Leann's best friends, Faren, had a house party and invited us. As proof that it's a crazy cosmically small world, Faren and her husband happen to live only a few blocks north of me in a newish development of homes. I was able to walk over there. As further proof that the universe is closing in on itself, one of the people at the party was a guy named Spencer, who was one of my dorm-mates back at EOU in Dorian Hall. I immediately felt like I fit in with Leann's friends and it turned out to be a pretty awesome evening as we all sat around the table and talked and drank wine. Spencer and I reminisced about EOU and what our mutual friends are up to these days. He told me that Dorian, the dorm we lived in, was recently reduced to a pile of rubble. We all knew that dorm was a dump and had to come down someday, but it's wild to hear that it's actually happened. End of an era. I wish I had photos of the rubble pile.
Leann and I, of course, sat close together and at around 9 PM someone asked if we were an item. Without getting much of a chance to answer, everyone else, in quite a ruckus, officially declared right then and there that we are indeed now a couple. Who can argue with such a happy mob of well-wishers? It was approaching midnight when people began leaving. My new girlfriend and I stole away upstairs, sat on a couch and had a very long and delicate conversation about relationships and fears. She's a girl who hasn't had a relationship last longer than half a year because she seems to land men that are bad for her. So she finds it hard to trust men and admitted to me that she's scared men don't respect her or that she isn't respectable. I tried my best to reassure her that, although I don't know how to convince her through words that I'm not like other men, I will do my best to show it to her as long as we're friends or lovers or enemies or whatever. She accepted that. I guess we're official now!
The party was over and Leann was given permission to spend the night in Faren's spare room. It was quickly down to just her, Leann and me. Faren's husband, Abraham, was at work until midnight. As I tucked my new girlfriend into bed and prepared to go home myself, there was a horrible clatter on the staircase followed by silence. My ears perked up and the fog of alcoholic buzz instantly vanished. Leann pulled my attention back to her as she apparently didn't hear anything. Just then, there was a faint cry of pain which Leann still couldn't hear. Alarmed, I darted up and flew out of the room to the stairs. Huddled in a ball at the landing below was Faren, sobbing and slowly turning over. Apparently, she'd just tumbled down the stairs and landed funny on her side. I ran down to her and we quickly assessed that her ankle was the only injury. We let her lay there as Leann and I tried to stabilize the leg with pillows and ice. Abraham, Faren's husband, suddenly arrived home and we all began watching her ankle swell. Something was definitely wrong.
Faren was in hysterics the entire time, distraught over how much this was going to cost as opposed to being worried she'd been seriously injured. As proof that irony is a cruel villain, she'd just lost her job a few weeks before and for the first time in her life, she has no health insurance. I tried everything I could think of to calm her down. We held her and stayed with her and watched and waited for the swelling to either get worse or appear more like her other foot. Finally, with her foot appearing to be attempting to give birth to a ping pong ball, I suggested that we visit Hillsboro's ER and get an X-ray. Abraham agreed and we carried her out and rode out to the hospital. Thankfully, it was a quiet middle-of-the-night at the neighborhood ER and we quickly had word that fortunately, it was simply a very bad sprain. The swelling was part of that. She was given pain meds and some instructions and sent home.
It was three in the morning at that point. We got Faren home and wrapped her ankle up with some fabric gauze and made her comfortable. Leann, overwhelmingly and vocally proud and thankful of her new boyfriend, convinced me to rest and stay the night with her. I had no idea I'd be given an opportunity so quickly to show Leann that I'm not like the other men she's dated. She sincerely appreciated what I'd done for her friend, someone I'd just met. I kept telling her that was just my nature. It's who I am (As vain as that is, it was the only thing that felt right to say at the time).
While Abraham went off to work Sunday, Leann and I stayed with Faren all day, changing her gauze and replacing ice every couple hours as well as helping her to the bathroom. Leann slept on her wrist wrong and had a minor hangover, so i put gauze on her too and watched both my broken ladies spend the entire day sleeping and groaning in pain. The funny thing was, it was my pleasure. I felt good about every minute of it and cherished the extra time with Leann. I finally left late in the evening, finally saying goodbye to Leann after such a crazy first 24 hours of our relationship. I can't imagine a more intriguing or remarkable start to things. I wonder what'll happen next...
Dating Leann continues! Her and I see each other as often as possible. A big event was Saturday night when one of Leann's best friends, Faren, had a house party and invited us. As proof that it's a crazy cosmically small world, Faren and her husband happen to live only a few blocks north of me in a newish development of homes. I was able to walk over there. As further proof that the universe is closing in on itself, one of the people at the party was a guy named Spencer, who was one of my dorm-mates back at EOU in Dorian Hall. I immediately felt like I fit in with Leann's friends and it turned out to be a pretty awesome evening as we all sat around the table and talked and drank wine. Spencer and I reminisced about EOU and what our mutual friends are up to these days. He told me that Dorian, the dorm we lived in, was recently reduced to a pile of rubble. We all knew that dorm was a dump and had to come down someday, but it's wild to hear that it's actually happened. End of an era. I wish I had photos of the rubble pile.
Leann and I, of course, sat close together and at around 9 PM someone asked if we were an item. Without getting much of a chance to answer, everyone else, in quite a ruckus, officially declared right then and there that we are indeed now a couple. Who can argue with such a happy mob of well-wishers? It was approaching midnight when people began leaving. My new girlfriend and I stole away upstairs, sat on a couch and had a very long and delicate conversation about relationships and fears. She's a girl who hasn't had a relationship last longer than half a year because she seems to land men that are bad for her. So she finds it hard to trust men and admitted to me that she's scared men don't respect her or that she isn't respectable. I tried my best to reassure her that, although I don't know how to convince her through words that I'm not like other men, I will do my best to show it to her as long as we're friends or lovers or enemies or whatever. She accepted that. I guess we're official now!
The party was over and Leann was given permission to spend the night in Faren's spare room. It was quickly down to just her, Leann and me. Faren's husband, Abraham, was at work until midnight. As I tucked my new girlfriend into bed and prepared to go home myself, there was a horrible clatter on the staircase followed by silence. My ears perked up and the fog of alcoholic buzz instantly vanished. Leann pulled my attention back to her as she apparently didn't hear anything. Just then, there was a faint cry of pain which Leann still couldn't hear. Alarmed, I darted up and flew out of the room to the stairs. Huddled in a ball at the landing below was Faren, sobbing and slowly turning over. Apparently, she'd just tumbled down the stairs and landed funny on her side. I ran down to her and we quickly assessed that her ankle was the only injury. We let her lay there as Leann and I tried to stabilize the leg with pillows and ice. Abraham, Faren's husband, suddenly arrived home and we all began watching her ankle swell. Something was definitely wrong.
Faren was in hysterics the entire time, distraught over how much this was going to cost as opposed to being worried she'd been seriously injured. As proof that irony is a cruel villain, she'd just lost her job a few weeks before and for the first time in her life, she has no health insurance. I tried everything I could think of to calm her down. We held her and stayed with her and watched and waited for the swelling to either get worse or appear more like her other foot. Finally, with her foot appearing to be attempting to give birth to a ping pong ball, I suggested that we visit Hillsboro's ER and get an X-ray. Abraham agreed and we carried her out and rode out to the hospital. Thankfully, it was a quiet middle-of-the-night at the neighborhood ER and we quickly had word that fortunately, it was simply a very bad sprain. The swelling was part of that. She was given pain meds and some instructions and sent home.
It was three in the morning at that point. We got Faren home and wrapped her ankle up with some fabric gauze and made her comfortable. Leann, overwhelmingly and vocally proud and thankful of her new boyfriend, convinced me to rest and stay the night with her. I had no idea I'd be given an opportunity so quickly to show Leann that I'm not like the other men she's dated. She sincerely appreciated what I'd done for her friend, someone I'd just met. I kept telling her that was just my nature. It's who I am (As vain as that is, it was the only thing that felt right to say at the time).
While Abraham went off to work Sunday, Leann and I stayed with Faren all day, changing her gauze and replacing ice every couple hours as well as helping her to the bathroom. Leann slept on her wrist wrong and had a minor hangover, so i put gauze on her too and watched both my broken ladies spend the entire day sleeping and groaning in pain. The funny thing was, it was my pleasure. I felt good about every minute of it and cherished the extra time with Leann. I finally left late in the evening, finally saying goodbye to Leann after such a crazy first 24 hours of our relationship. I can't imagine a more intriguing or remarkable start to things. I wonder what'll happen next...