My friend Joe, in L.A. called today. I missed his call, but he left a message and said, “Happy Memorial Day.” Then he said, “That’s really not appropriate, because it’s not really a happy holiday, is it?” It’s true. All we ever think about (most of us, that is) is a three-day weekend a hope for great weather and lots of barbecues, but it’s really about remembering those who gave their lives in times of war.
It’s especially important to remember today, not only because of those soldiers in WWI, WWII, the Korean, or the Vietnam war, but especially because of our boys and girls (yes, they’re mostly just boys and girls) who have sacrificed their lives for a terrible, stupid war. It makes me so mad that they’re still there, still dying every day, or coming home missing limbs, but this is what our current presidency is all about. I’d vote for anyone who could stop this war and bring them home, but I don’t think any of them can or will.
Anyway, enough about war. I’m happy to report – no drummer boy this morning. It’s a Memorial Day Miracle! I still got up at around 9:30am, but since I did it on my own and wasn’t woken up, I felt better about actually getting out of bed! I worked on the computer, since I wasn’t able to get to my blog last night – the server was down again. So, I did it this morning.
Then, I watched TV out in the living room and had a massage on the massage chair (ahhh!) since Eric was still sleeping. When he woke up, he told me he had a bad headache, so he went back to sleep and I kept watching TV.
Finally, I had a breakfast bar, went in the shower, and left the apartment with my book. I wanted to get out for a while, and thought I’d go to STARBUCKS, get myself a iced grande decaf skinny mocha and read my new DICK FRANCIS for a while, before going food shopping. I sat there for about an hour, and then went to the supermarket. I didn’t have to buy much, because Eric had gone to COSTCO, and we still had a lot of frozen, boxed and canned stuff left. I just bought fresh fruit and veggies, and a dozen DIET LEMON SNAPPLES and came home.
I think I told you all that I’m “back on the Snapple.” I was completely addicted in NY and went cold turkey when we left NY. I didn’t have one for over 6 months, and really missed them. I like them because they have zero calories and I realized that the other things I was drinking ALSO had the “dreaded splenda” so I figured I’d go back to my old friend, Snapple. Ah, it’s good to be back. Snapple, how I missed you!
When I got back, Eric still had a bad headache, but took 2 of his Excedrin Migraines and soon felt better. Meanwhile, I watched DR. PHIL and then took a nap (big surprise). When I woke up, I made us delicious salads and NUTRISYSTEM pizzas. Eric was watching basketball and I watched SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. This show is great, because you get to watch dancers from all over the country. They might be trained in ballroom, hip-hop, ballet or Broadway, or not trained at all. That’s the most interesting thing about SYTYCD – each dancer brings his own talents to the table, but then has to go outside his comfort zone and learn things he’s never done before.
Another interesting thing about the show is that one of the judges – Mary Murphy – owns a great dance school right here in San Diego! I’ve been wanting to go there and take a ballroom class for months, but of course – just like the yoga classes – it’s something I haven’t been able to do, because of my various injuries. My elbow IS feeling much, much better, even though I had a minor setback from the go kart racing (but it was worth it!). I'm hoping to take a yoga class soon, and the ballroom classes would be great, too!
This weekend I asked Eric if he wanted to go to the go kart track with me, because I thought he’d really like it (and knew he’d be really good at it), but he was completely unenthusiastic. He’s completely unenthusiastic about most things these days. I’m lucky I got him to go to the movies and Balboa Park this weekend.
We had a long talk about him going back to New York in the RV, trying to find work, and getting healthy again. He honestly believes he can’t do it in SD and I really believe him. I don’t want him to go without me – we’ve never been apart for more than a week in 26 years, but if this is what he needs to do in order to ride, work and be happy, then I’ll support him. The most important thing is for him to get out of San Diego, because he really believes it is affecting him negatively and, if you believe something like that, it doesn’t really matter if it’s true or not. I believe in the power of positive thinking, but I also believe in the power of negative thinking.
I know Eric has a lot of support in NY – his family and friends are all there, so I know he’ll have a lot of people to help him get settled. I also know I’ll be fine here, because I’ve got a routine going and I’m pretty independent. I’ll miss him, but I’ll survive. I just want Eric to be happy. I just want him to be healthy. This is what he wants to do and I have to support him, even though I was hoping we could do it together.
In preparation for work tomorrow, I reviewed my “work document” again tonight, to be sure I made all the changes correctly. I emailed it back to myself at work and I’m just hoping that it will all work out tomorrow. I know it’s not the biggest deal in the world, but I always want everything to be perfect, and I hate when anything goes wrong, especially at work.
Oh, one more bit of good news. I was working in WORD on my laptop yesterday and my computer screen just went completely blue. I rebooted and everything was fine, but I immediately backed everything up, because I have a feeling this is “the beginning of the end.” I bought this laptop in January 2002, so it’s six years old, which is an antique in the world of computers. I had to get a new hard drive in the summer of ’06, but I had planned to buy a new laptop here in SD. I never did make the investment since Eric wasn’t working. Now, I may have to, but at least I’m prepared for the worst and will have everything I need to get the new one set up!