It’s a good thing I brought THREE books with me to work today, because I needed all three! But, let me start at the beginning.
It was pouring when I woke up. The rain coming down was the first thing I heard. Eric didn’t work today, so I got ready, quiet as a mouse, and wore my raincoat, my rain shoes, and my Barbie umbrella!
I try to drag everything out at work. I don’t multi-task at all. If I’m eating, I eat. If I’m drinking, I drink. If I’m waiting for something to print off the printer, I don’t start the next task. I wait for it to come out of the printer. I have to pace myself, because there’s NOTHING TO DO!
By 10:00am I had finished THE RED TENT, a beautiful, romantic tale of Dinah, the sister of Joseph (and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat!). While I was reading it, it reminded me of MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA, because you really care about Dinah, just as I cared about Chiyo/Sayuri. I would actually worry about the little Geisha-in-training when I wasn’t reading the book. I couldn’t wait to get back to her, to hear more of her story. It was the same with Dinah. I loved her. I wanted to meet her, to be her friend. I was sorry when the story was done.
Next, I read a children’s book (ages 8-12) that one of my customers had given me when I closed the shop. Grace saw this book and thought of me. It’s called THE VAN GOGH CAFÉ, by Cynthia Rylant, and is the story of a “most unusual establishment” where wonderful, magical things happen all the time. Grace said that she thought my shop was magical and that people always felt better as soon as they entered my doors. The ultimate compliment!
Since the book was just 53 pages, and the print was large, I finished it in less than an hour, so I started a THIRD book: I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE, by Wally Lamb, author of SHE’S COME UNDONE. This book was one of Oprah’s Book Club selections, so you know it must be good!
It should take me more than a few days to read. It’s 900 pages! So far, it’s very sad. It tells the story of identical twin brothers, born on New Year’s Eve 1949. One arrives right before midnight, and the other arrives right after, so the twin brothers are actually born in different years!
As they grow, one brother begins to have difficulty, and it turns out he is schizophrenic and spends most of his adult life in a mental institution in Connecticut, not far from where his house-painter twin lives. It’s not light reading, I’ll tell you that! This is another book I got from my sister, Lenae.
The day dragged on. I’d read for a while, then go to the bathroom, then check my YAHOO emails, then check my OUTLOOK emails. Then, I’d read some articles on YAHOO NEWS, then read my book again, and start the whole thing all over again. I told Eric if someone used a stop watch and timed me every time I did something for the office today, it would probably measure about 40 minutes for the entire day! There was just nothing for me to do.
It’s going to be more of the same on Monday, because my boss will be in L.A. I didn’t bring the book home, because I have tons of stuff to do around the house, million of errands to run tomorrow, and lots of TV to catch up on, and when I have a book to read, I tend to not want to do anything else.
I could not wait for 5:00pm. I thought it would never come! Finally, it was time to go home and I went downstairs to meet my friend. The weather had really cleared up and it was nice and sunny out. What a difference from this morning!
I wanted to go to the 99 cent store and since it’s right up the block from the apartment, I decided to walk there before going home. I was looking for a duffel bag for Eric, because the one he has is ripping in so many places that it’s not worth it to sew it. It’s just an old, cheap bag and it’s falling apart.
I was walking around and passed a rack filled with clothes. I never even noticed that they sold clothes at the 99 cent store before. I’m always looking for mirrors, or a sponge or household item, not clothes. As I walked down the narrow aisle with the clothes, I saw a black woman looking at the clothes. I couldn’t pass her without bumping into her, so I apologized and excused myself as I passed behind her. She said, “That’s alright, sweetheart.” I turned to look at her and we exchanged smiles. Then, she said, “You are so beautiful.” I thanked her, and said she was beautiful, too. She had the sweetest smile and a big head of curly black hair.
When I said she was beautiful, she suddenly seemed very self-conscious. She touched her hair and her face and all of a sudden she started to cry. She said she was running away from a man who beat her and she lost everything she owned. She was in the 99 cent store to buy warm clothes, because it was cold at night in San Diego. She had no place to go. She told me she had the phone number of someone who might be able to give her a place to stay.
My heart broke for her. I told her I was so sorry. I told her that everything would be okay and that she did the right thing to escape this man. I took her hand and held it and looked into her eyes and said, “I promise you. Things will get better. You just have to hang in there. Believe in yourself. You are a strong, beautiful woman and you will be fine.” She started to cry even harder and told me I was an angel sent by God to her. She said she still had her bible and she was going to read it and pray and that she believed me and felt better. She said that surely I was a sign from God that things were going to get better. I assured her that they would.
I can tell that this woman has not had an easy life. Her hands were so rough and leathery, like she had done hard work her whole life. I told Eric they were rougher than his working man's hands had ever been. He just closed his eyes and shook his head.
She told me her name was Helen, and I told her my name, which she loved. She had a really cute laugh, which was light and happy, even though her heart was heavy. I was about to walk away, and I bid her good luck, but before I left I reached into my wallet and gave her $3. I didn’t have much ($6), but I figured the $3 would be of some help, especially in a 99 cent store! She thanked me so much and again said that God had sent me and that I was an angel. I walked around the store, looking for a duffle bag, but they didn’t have them, so I left.
When I got home, Eric was just leaving on his bicycle. He said he was going to play LOTTO. So, I went inside and he came back in about 15 minutes. There’s really no food left in the house, except the nutrisystem food, so I asked Eric if he wanted to go up the block to the Italian place. I’m going food shopping tomorrow, and will pick up more fruits and vegetables, cold cuts and cheese (for Eric’s lunch) and drinks. Right now, the fridge is pretty bare!
We walked the 200 feet to the restaurant and there was Helen, standing right outside. I called to her and she started laughing and was so happy to see me again. She remembered my name, and I introduced her to Eric. We were so happy to see each other, that Eric couldn’t believe we had just met in the 99 cent store across the street a half hour before.
She told Eric that I was her angel, sent by God. She looked at Eric’s face and said he was the sweetest man in the world and that he loved me more than anything. I told her it was true. Then, one of the cooks stepped out of the back door of the restaurant and gave her an aluminum take-out dish and a bag of bread. I don’t know how it happened, but they were giving her a free meal.
She was so grateful, so happy. I told her that we were going into the restaurant and that the food here was delicious and she would surely enjoy it. She said, “See, my good luck is starting already, and it’s all because of you!” She was so happy just to have a hot meal and we talked for another minute. I told her to be strong, and then we went inside.
When we sat down I told Eric that I felt so bad, and I could see she broke his heart, too. She will probably sleep on the street tonight, but at least in San Diego you won’t freeze to death. She showed me the warm sweaters she had layered on and thanked me for the money I gave her. I told Eric that I wished we could bring her home and give her a warm place to sleep, but you just can’t take a stranger into your home. Not in this day and age. In the days of Dinah they did it all the time, showing kindness to strangers wandering in the desert, but this is 2008.
I told Eric I wished she could sleep in the RV. At least she would be out of the cold, but he said we couldn’t do that either. It really broke my heart that I couldn’t help her more, but I hope that my few dollars and encouraging words helped a little.
I hadn’t had much to eat for lunch, so I was pretty hungry. They have the most delicious tomato soup at this restaurant, so I just got soup and salad for $8.95. I’m a cheap date! I could have had the Ahi Tuna or Salmon, but I figured the soup and salad would be enough – and it was! I had two small cups of the soup and a nice salad with lettuce, cucumbers, kidney beans, shredded carrots, radishes, hard boiled eggs (I mostly eat the whites), sunflower seeds, and my favorite – anchovies! This salad bar has everything – at least 20 different fruits, vegetables, cottage cheese, blue cheese, shredded mozzarella, bacon bits, croutons, and nuts. It’s one of the nicest salad bars I’ve ever seen!
Eric had a big salad, a cup of soup, and chicken cutlet parmigiana. They also give you a basket of fresh-baked bread with a sun-dried tomato and olive oil paste to dip into. It’s fabulous and I tasted the paste, but didn’t have any bread. It was hard to resist, but I had to!
Over dinner we discussed our plans for going to North Carolina on vacation to check it out. We’ll probably fly to Ashville and then drive to Charlotte and spend some time there, too. If Ashville is good, that would be preferable to Eric, because there is much more mountain biking there, and it’s supposed to be a “Mecca for mountain bikers.”
I told Eric that I had been told today that the woman I’m sitting in for probably won’t be coming back. The woman who trained me has become a friend and she has been very kind to me. She asked me today if I wanted to come on staff (they want me), but I told her no. She was very surprised, so I told her I would come up to her desk and explain it all, because I had a good reason. She has been so kind to me since I came and has been very supportive and very enthusiastic about my work. I know she’d like me to come on board, but I sat down with her for about a half hour and told her that we’re leaving, probably before the summer.
I explained the whole situation and – surprisingly – she told me that she and her husband are planning to retire and move in three years – probably to ASHVILLE! She told me she lived in Charlotte for a few years – many years ago – and she loved it. I told her it had grown a lot over the last 20 years and it much different now, but it’s still a beautiful and very popular city.
I told her that I was planning to go with Eric to check out North Carolina after I finished my stint at the company, because they told me I would only be there through March. If they want me to stay on longer, I would be happy to do that, but I’d have to be gone for a week or two. She said she was sure they wouldn’t mind, and that they’d want me to stay until I left San Diego. I told her I’d be happy to do that, because I was very happy there and it would be good for me to keep working until I was ready to leave.
Eric was very pleased by all of this. He is anxious to go and check it out. He said that he knows it will be wonderful for us and that he’ll live wherever I want (a loft in the city) and chauffeur me everywhere when it’s cold outside, so I don’t have to be outside a lot. I told him he was going to be my slave -- my love slave -- and he said he liked that idea -- a lot! He was so sweet, so happy, so enthusiastic. It really gave me hope!
After dinner we walked over to KEILS, because Eric wanted to buy some bathroom cleaner (my super-clean Eric) and ice cream. I convinced him to buy frozen yogurt instead, and he was happy. When we got home he started watching basketball and we had some Haagen-Dazs DULCE DE LECHE frozen yogurt. There’s only 190 calories in ½ cup, so it’s about the same calories as our NUTRISYSTEM desserts and a LOT better! It was so sweet and delicious that I felt really guilty eating it, but I did anyway. We’ll see if I pay on the scale tomorrow morning. Uh oh!
Tomorrow Eric is taking the RV to HARBISON ROAD to do some mountain biking. He’s not sure how muddy or wet it may be since it rained a lot this week, but he’s willing to try. I think that’s a VERY positive thing. He’s mountain biking! His whole attitude has changed since he worked this week. I’m not saying he’s back to the “old Eric,” but this is a definite improvement over last week.
Tomorrow I will be running errands all day – the post office, food shopping, the shoe repair shop, the bank and maybe Gili Anna in La Jolla, if I finish the pink frame (which I haven’t started yet!!!).
I promise to download pictures from my new camera and put them on the blog this weekend. I’ve just been too lazy after work to do it. I haven’t even read my CAMERA USER GUIDE yet. I have lots of things to learn about my new camera! I can't wait to really start using it!