Kids and dogs and concepts, OH MY!
Scribing at 6:24 a.m. on 2004-10-12
So I get up this morning to goof off with some friends on IM before they have to leave for work, or go to sleep, or whatever they need to do before I get to go back to bed and sneak maybe another hour or two of sleep in before I am totally expected to be functional.
I had promised the Diva that I would pick up a paper in the morning and start hacking away at the want ads again (since I am STILL searching in vain for a job that will actually pay me enough to say, eat) and I had also planned to take the Freak unit in to get her nails clipped; because playing with her now is like dancing with a stripper on crack, her nails were so out of control. Had she been able to give me a hickey to go with all the scratches, I would probably be sleeping on the couch right now.
So I get up, and run into one of my RP compatriots on IM, and we're discussing the wedding online from the night before. Erm ... or the night before that, I forget which. Hey, it's 6:30am and I just got home from work a little while ago, cut me some slack here, peanuts.
The wedding online was fun, though. Except for the fact (or perhaps BECAUSE of the fact) that the bride's father was an hour and a half late (because he was on a raid), two of the guests were chased through the middle of the ceremony by guards waving swords and clubs and screaming; the father of the bride, upon arriving at the cathedral decided to make a grand entrance (like being an hour and a half late for the ceremony and 30 people having to wait for his ass while he rolled for loot wasn't grand ENOUGH) by riding his HORSE up a very narrow, twisty, almost impossible-to-navigate-sober-on-FOOT walkway, and subsequently falling (with his horse) off the parapet into the lake roughly 6 stories below, and thrashing around cursing for another twenty minutes trying to find a way out before a druid went and ported his sopping wet Barbarian ass up where he belonged. There was also some sort of internal feud that no one was aware of until the wife of one of the people involved started inquiring in the wedding chat channel who had enlisted the bozo to spam his ass all through the ceremony; and eventually required Officer intervention from aforementioned spammers' guild.
There were fireworks, there was much hand shaking and drinking, and then everyone went off to kill things or celebrate in whatever fashion they deemed fitting.
It was a touching moment. Or something.
And oh stop making that face. It was ONLINE for chrissake, the horse wasn't real. Calm down.
So we're talking away, and it's then mentioned that today (well, yesterday now) was Thanksgiving Day in Canada, apparently, so both my RP buds had the day off; to play and otherwise wreak havoc and delight. I was jazzed by the prospect. I knew I had to do these errand-type things, but still ... that left us quite a bit of time to get some experience under our belts and perhaps a little coin in our pouch, dontcha know.
So we're getting ready to log on and one of them says 'oh, wait. Have to get the laundry out and hang it up outside to dry before we get going here.' which I recognized as my cue to go do the productive things. So I run out and grab a newspaper, and call the groomer place, and stuff the Freak Unit in the car and off we go.
She was behaving so well, I was sure she was probably dying. I was literally concerned that I didn't have to wrestle her into submission with one hand while attempting to drive between the curbs with the other. (This is where past Dad-training comes in very handy; since the dog pays no more heed to me yelling 'I will STOP THIS CAR AND THROW YOU RIGHT OUT THE WINDOW' than the kids ever did.)
So we get to the groomer joint and get inside after sniffing every square inch of pavement between the car and the door (ok, that was her, not me, I can see that look you're making) and they take her fuzzbutt back and clip her nails. I hear one piercing scream, and after ascertaining that it was the Freak Unit and not the woman clipping her nails, I put away the number for the lawyer, paid the bill, and took her home.
I'm thinking ..ok. Time to play now. At least for a brief moment.
I had no idea how brief.
The three of us logged in, got to the hunting spot, and I had just started smacking the fear of Cazic-Thule into a couple of wandering skeletons when my phone rang.
It was J. It wasn't like I could just say 'oh, well, I'll call him back when I stop to bandage my wounds'. So I picked it up. We talked for a couple of minutes and he said 'Hey, I was going to run by the music store and pick up a couple of things .. you want to go with me?'
Anyone who has ever been a parent of a child over the age of 6 knows how incredibly rare an occurance said offspring actually ASKING you to accompany them to a store without expecting you to pay for everything or give them a ride there truly is.
Of course I said 'sure!'. I mean, come on. I've got four years to make up for with J. If the kid wants to spend time with me, especially since we will be moving when the Diva graduates, I better get it in now. (Another thought about really pukey timing on that one later.)
So we go. Turns out he ends up staying at the house when we return until nearly 9pm; so I never do make it online ever again. My friends will probably not speak to me in the morning; as this was the only chance prior to Christmas, possibly, that they will both have the entire day off at the same time I am actually off, and the three of us can play together. But hey. I was with my kid. What can I say?
The other crucial part of the day (my getting to actually sleep before work) was whizzing past me. As the kid jumped in his truck and took off, I turned lovingly to the Diva, the words ' I am SO going to go lie down for about an hour' trembling like a dirty word on my lips ... when she said 'You want to go out to dinner?' (insert internal anguished cry for sleep here.)
Now, we were supposed to go to dinner last week, but she got caught having to do a work-schmooze thing instead, and we never really made it. The time that we're both available to actually sit down and eat together is increasingly rare. I opened my mouth and then thought .. no, come on. Be a good husband. You need to go take this woman to eat. So I said (insert faux bright smile here) 'You bet!'
She was onto me .. she said (insert not-faux semi-peevish look here) 'You don't want to. Never mind.'
At which point I had to ARGUE that I REALLY wanted to go out to eat .. albeit I wasn't hungry, and was so tired I felt like my eyeballs were squirting blood. But I love the Diva. I wanted her to be happy. I wanted to see her smile, like she does those rare times when I do something correctly, even if it is by accident.
So we went. We were chatting about the kid, mostly, and I was thinking how cosmic timing really blows goats. Because when we were talking about moving south after she graduates not two weeks ago, I assured her I was fine with the concept; and there was nothing holding me here any more, because obviously, I would never get to see my kids again.
Right?
Cue really suck-ass timing music here. We're supposed to move south, come summer. Now, J is here. Kid is back in my life, from like, nowhere. After four years. And I will actually BE leaving the state, like his psychotic bitch from hell mother told him I did four years ago.
*sigh*
Sucks.
So I'm thinking this, and my body is at that stage of tired where you start to feel like if you don't lie down somewhere soon, you will barf all over the place like Linda Blair in The Exorcist. And the Diva is talking about how she misses her friends. And misses the South. And is homesick. And then .. to my true shock and mortification .. she begins to cry. Ok. I am here, beyond endurance, at this restaurant, because I'm thinking it will make her happy. Because, you know, that smile thing I mentioned.
This crying thing was NOT on the schedule.
She said she was homesick. This is not a concept I get, I guess. Since my mom passed away lo those many years ago, there hasn't really BEEN a 'home' concept in my life. There have been 'place' concepts; 'apartment' concepts, 'house' concepts. But never anything that I couldn't pack my shit in my car and drive away from with under 24 hours notice and be back at work that night.
Maybe this is a blessing. Maybe it's a curse. I don't know.
But I just wanted to see her smile, yanno?
