Spare Some Change?

I handle change about as well as a fingerless bum with a hole in his cup, but lately it seems like I haven't had much choice in the matter. There have been changes with work, personal life and my friends.

The biggest change of all though has been in my status. No, not that status. I've been a brother and a son forever, but today, for the first time, I became an uncle. Let the Stamos/Dukes of Hazard jokes begin.

My sister Anna went through 26 hours of labor, but eventually Adrian relented and came out to meet the world.

What's the appropriate amount of time to wait before I start training him to help pick up on cute girls?

Congrats to Josh and Anna.

I promise to return to blogging some day soon. It's not that I haven't been writing, it just hasn't really been Sesquipedalis type material. Maybe A can be my new inspiration.

A Step In the Right Direction

Crap, I need water.

This was supposed to be a rush trip to the grocery store, but it suddenly occurred to me that the basket I was holding in my right hand would be insufficient. I was out of bottled water.

Now now, before you start writing one of the following responses, hear me out.
1. Bottled water?!?! What about the earth? Plastic waste is responsible for blah blah blah. Al Gore said blah blah.
2. Bottled water?!?! You pay money for water, tool?

I had never paid for water until I moved in to the Landmark 3 years ago. It's a neat building, but it's also 40 years old and has very bad plumbing. If the faucet has been off for a while, then the water comes out with a rather orange tint that I learned the hard way doesn't have a matching orange flavor. I switched to a Brita filter and a few water bottles, but for guests I try to keep some bottled water stocked.

It had been a pretty crappy week in general which, in my small circle of friends, included: a break up, a break down, a sixty hour work week, a case of the swine flu, and an odd request from an old friend. Oh yeah... the company had also scheduled an all hands meeting for the day after our third quarter results were announced. It wasn't the Worst Week Ever, but were there a list, it probably would have made the top ten.

I had a few items in my basket and the karts are kept outside, so I stashed my groceries and hurried for the exit. As I came out, a woman who had just dislodged a kart from the group noticed me heading her way. Normally the sight of me moving hurriedly towards her is cause for a woman to reach for the pepper spray in her purse.

"You need one too?" She said with a surprising smile, "Here, take this one."

It was a pretty small gesture in the grand scheme of things, but in the moment it hit with an unexpected weight.

"Thank you"
"No problem"

Twenty minutes later I was on B2 of my building's parking garage. The trip from my parking spot to my apartment is a flight of stairs up to a door that unlocks with my building fob. The door leads to a long hallway that goes to the laundry mat and an elevator which requires the fob yet again. The elevator takes you to the eleventh floor. One more long hallway leads to my door. I was making the trip with two cases of water, a bunch of groceries and a backpack. Needless to say my hands were full.

I managed to get the keys out to open the first door, and down the hallway I could see an extremely cute building resident doing her laundry. The cute blond also spotted me from down the hallway and rushed out to get the elevator.

"You look like you've got your hands full" she said with a smile.

Cute and considerate? I think I'm in love.

Had I a ring on my person, it surely would have been hers. Instead I opted for a simple, "Thank You"

A Thousand Days in the MakingPart 6: The Thousandth Day

Two weeks passed without a word from Rachael. I was already planning a formal apology to the whole family and a blog entry about how I had, "Scared off Mandi's sister" It had only taken me six months too!

Day 999(July 5th) -

The IM window popped up. Rachael explained that life had gotten crazy, and she had retreated from certain social aspects.

She needed her own special alone time? She's prefect!

Rachael and I spent a few hours IMing back and forth, and then another two hours on the phone. I felt like a 15 year old talking to his first girl on the phone. It was fun. It was funny. It was exciting. An enjoyment of phone conversation wasn't something that I had felt in a very very long time.

Up until this point in our relationship, everything had been very nice and cordial, but for whatever reason, the gloves had finally come off. The girl I knew as always being the polite sweet girl from Kansas threw me a few zingers. She made a few off color jokes. I went from being interested in meeting this Internet friend to being interested in Rachael.

We agreed to get everything out of the way and just meet for lunch the next day. There would be no backing out this time.

Day 1000(July 6th) -

The phone rang at my office at ten as if on cue. It was Rachael and she began rather slowly.

"Here's the thing..."
"You have got to be kidding me" I interrupted.
"I am. I just wanted to freak you out. And, I wanted to change the location"

An hour later I was waiting outside of Pei Wei. As the moments passed I grew more and more nervous.

What if I don't recognize her?
What if she thinks I'm weird?
What if....

Rachael hopped out of her car wearing the biggest smile I'd ever seen.

"You're not that short" she said as we approached each other.

It was at this moment that I realized I had no idea what was appropriate. Was this a hug situation? Was it a hand shake situation? Was it neither.

Before I had a chance to screw it up Rachael threw her arms around me and told me that it was great to finally meet me.

We took our seats, and before I knew it two hours had passed! I hadn't even finished eating because I was so entranced by the girl sitting across from me. One more hug, and we went our separate ways.

I wasn't completely sure if she had had as good a time as I had, but for my part I couldn't wait to see her again.

Stay tuned for the exciting epilogue, "2000 days in the making!" coming to Sesquipedalis 4/1/2012!