Life & Love

Celebrated my friend’s 30th birthday last night. We had a great time, but I could tell she had mixed feelings about it all. We have this notion that we’ll be in a “good place” by the time we are 30, but I’m beginning to think that good place must be at 40…

Of course, it doesn’t help that she is a highly educated young woman transplanted into a place where finding a decent job is about as difficult as my cat catching the laser beam. And she is by herself, with her husband deployed, no less.

But hopefully we were able to show her a memorable time in spite of it all! We have all been there (and are there now, just not 30 yet!)

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Happy Birthday, Mom <3

Last night was a bad night. She never gives full details, but I’m pretty sure her mental competency trial was yesterday, and she told me she read the letters we wrote to the judge and district attorney that explain her condition. Needless to say, she wasn’t happy, and the pain, anger, and fear in her voice was palpable when she called repeatedly in the middle of the night.

I know I’m not doing anything wrong, but it’s her reality that drives ours… and my heart breaks every time she reminds me what I’ve done to her.

the Dream I’m Working On

“I may still not know what I want to be when I grow up, but I do know that someday I want to live in a house filled with my books and travel souvenirs. And the walls that aren’t covered in bookshelves will be covered with photos of my family and friends. When I leave the house I will be going to a job I love, and I’ll return to a person I love. So, that’s the dream I’m working on.”

My mother-in-law was kind enough to inform me that it’s National Hug Your Cat Day!! My Bean is so special she gets kisses too 😽 (at Kings Harbor)

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All Done…!

… with move #1 of 3 between now and March! It was a longggg couple of days (more like couple of weeks) but it’s done now and nothing went wrong. I did find out that the owners of the old house are ripping out the carpets… AFTER I paid to have them professionally cleaned. There are no coverings on any of the windows – so I feel mildly exposed – and I can’t get internet to work… but inshallah, those sorts of things will work themselves out. I am just grateful I have a place to live in these last months before we head to GA.

In other news, I have reached the single-digits of weeks before Chuck comes home! Nine to go (assuming he comes back the first week of August.)

Also, I got a little sunburn on my beach break yesterday. This is exciting because I hardly ever burn or tan.  It’s nice to see I’m not a vampire after all, and my skin will in fact get a natural glow – even if it’s a little on the rosy side 🙂

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I finished The Great Gatsby last night, and my first reaction was “WTF, that was stupid! What a pointless mess!” But, after thinking about it and absorbing the message some more, I think that’s how I was supposed to feel… and I think I got it!

It was interesting how closely it paralleled some of my own experiences, and the lifestyles I was exposed to in my DC world. I frequented some lavish parties hosted by millionaires and their athlete/supermodel/celebrity friends, in decadent Georgetown and Embassy Row mansions and sparkling yachts.

Someone I know personally matches every character in the book, for better or for worse. I like to think I’m Nick Carraway – a relatively aloof and somewhat bored participant who recognized the emptiness of what we were doing, but participated anyway (albeit from a guarded distance without taking it too seriously, if that makes sense…)

Though I must say, our millionaire hosts weren’t quite as elegantly, mysteriously interesting as Jay Gatsby. There were plenty of rumors of course – but more along the lines of snorting cocaine off 14-carat gold bars just for the heck of it, and bizarre sexual practices with high-end hookers in Cannes or St. Tropez (or DC), and yes, maybe some investment fraud here and there…

But fortunately, no one’s lives were ruined by their extravagance… that I know of. Just reputations maybe… but even those stains disappeared with the relatively anonymous cycle of revelers that go in and out of those kinds of shin digs…

…Can’t wait to see the movie!