4 days since my last post. No, I haven’t been hibernating but it has been pretty wacky these days.
I am not at my almost regular Saturday hangout, Panera, but home. I was pleasantly surprised to have been able to stay in bed until 10, thing that has not happened in a long time. Actually, I woke up with a terrible headache and went to the bathroom then went back to bed. And in between catnaps, I was trying to check my e-mails and news only to fall asleep again.
During one of these naps, I had a dream about being lost, riding a bicycle on the highway, riding it too fast on wet grounds and downhill, being in a very small village snooping around in people’s houses trying to run away from some people who were after me. It was the kind of dream where it felt my imagination was at work building the story as it went and only to wake up swearing because the climax was right there and I did not, could not, wanted not to get to the end of the story. I had the same kind of dream last week but with a girl and it was so vivid but ended at the very worse time. And when I called her and told her about the dream, I realized I should have kept my mouth shut because I did not tell her what the dream was about and I was feeling quite uncomfortable with the whole situation.
Anyway, work has been a nightmare this week. Before all the trouble started, I asked for Friday off since my kids’ schools were going to be closed. So in the middle of all the action on Thursday, I reminded everybody I was going to be out the next day. Of course, the boss tried to get me to come in but when I usually take a day off, it’s because of children issues. I have not taken a day off for leisure, although I should try and do that once in a while.
The day with the kids was fine. I had plans to go to Miami to take care of some paperwork and stop by to see my friend Cha since she has not seen us in several months now. By the time I got everybody ready, it was already 11 and I did not see how I could make it before closing time that was 12:30. So we ended up running some errands and picking up lunch before going back home. My daughter got me to buy a Bratz game for her Wii and I knew that her mother would not approve of it, but she got her game anyway.
See, when I think of it, I see how things were for me. I mean, we were not poor, far from that. My dad had worked hard and he was able to retire in his early 50s. He bought land, a house and invested large amounts of money so it was not like we were 7 living in a 2-room apartment. And yet, I remember the time when yo-yo was the biggest thing around. I had a classic Duncan yo-yo when everybody else had a Butterfly yo-yo. And we’d be playing with our yo-yos and they made fun of the kids who did not have a Butterfly. I remember this other kid and I ruined our yo-yos when we were told that a Butterfly was basically a classic turned outwards. We tried it and it did look like a Butterfly but it wasn’t and did not perform as well either. And the shame when all of a sudden a piece of the yo-yo would go flying off. And back then, how much do you think a Butterfly cost? $1.50… My mom did not manage any of the finances, so I could keep asking her as much as I wanted, she had her hands tied. As for dad, I think I have talked enough about him to figure out that I was stuck with my mutilated classic.
So I am not saying that I will give in any time my daughter asks for something, but I’ve been through this and as you can see, those memories are still quite vivid almost 4 decades later. So call me softy, yeah, but she is my Princess!
And so being the softy, she insisted for me to take her up and read her a story and tuck her in. Of course I did and she was ever so happy to spend a little more time with her daddy, considering that I hardly saw her for 2 days.
Since I was not on the morning conference call and nobody was there to speak for me, I had no idea what was the plan for the crews working this weekend. Although I said I was going to be available to work, I had hopes to work Saturday and have Sunday off. When I did not hear from anybody and it was already past 10, I called my boss and he sounded quite annoyed. I can understand because he promised that things will be back to normal on Monday and it looks like it is not going to happen. So I asked him what was the plan and he told me I was on for tomorrow. Sigh.
I received an e-mail earlier talking about a chocolate fair and I did not read the whole thing and assumed it was today so I figured we could do that, be in a nice, warm place and have some chocolate. It would have been the perfect thing to do considering how cool it is and also the fact that it is in Coral Gables, meaning a nice change for once instead of always being in the neighborhood. Well, that is not going to happen or at least not with me because I will be at one of our locations, playing Buffy.
I talked to my mother and she already made her reservations for next month. That’s one good thing but it is so freaking ridiculously expensive. I was also e-mailing my son’s godfather and he reminded me of the fact that my son won’t be seeing him that often and that is the reason why. It costs more to go to that tiny island in the Caribbean than fly all the way to Hawaii! Oil prices have gone down but airfare has remained really high. Even to fly in the continental US costs an arm and a leg. I have friends up north I am dying to visit and that has been put off for now.
I had to stop writing twice already. Now the wife and kids are out, enjoying the beautiful day. She was nagging for me to go with them but I will be working tomorrow and the idea of being alone for a while, resting and relaxing was stronger than the idea of going out. I am watching “The Bucket List” and I am really enjoying it. I wish I could do the same when my time to go will come up.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend. It’s already half gone…
Till then…
Aliti Mendoza