Status Updates From A Place Called Home

The holidays pushed them all forward. Halloween, Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Each one a nodal event in that it was the first one without Gabe and Kathy. There was no struggle involved in enjoying themselves, only in not feeling guilty for it.

their misfortune, our blessing.

What do you do with that except thank God that you're able to move on?

This was just two guys getting together for a beer. Apparently, neither one of them thought of Joel as a guy. Every man was just a guy at heart. Joel Strahern dressed better, was all.

~~~~~Strahern.

Baker.

That's about the extent of my macho posturing. Call me Mitch. Joel.

Gina wasn't wearing her heart on her sleeve. It was in her eyes.

You should think about decaf.

I do think about it. I just won't drink it.

We've gotten so used to the Net and cell phones and immediate accessibility that self-reliance is an afterthought, not the first choice.

"Are you angry at me?"

"No, not yet. I'm working on up to it."

"Let me know when you're up to a full head of steam. At that point, I want you to imagine a pressure ten times greater and then you'll have some idea how ticked I am at you right now."

It's taken a long time to realize I don't need to worry about how other people judge me.

What I haven't figured out is whether I should tell them so.

You were thinking hard.

No. Hardly thinking.

I do that sometimes too.

She shocked him, she thought, when she told him how much his good opinion meant to her but that she wouldn't wreck her life being afraid of his poor one.

Aunt Thea has cable mouth. You know. Like cable TV. The channels where you can say anything.

Both of us are late to the realization that there's nothing about love that has to be earned.

Paraphrasing.

Communicating the gist of it.

I know what paraphrasing means.

If I had their number, I would call back those words. If I had a receipt, I'd return 'em to the service desk.

I read somewhere that lots of people don't figure it out about their own parents until they get into recovery themselves.

Thea had recently determined that she had lived here, but that she had only grown up after she left.

[during a thunderstorm] Well, if they're laughing, they can be afraid any longer.

I think you're right. Thanks, Thea. Good night.

It's easier for me to get caught up in what someone else is feeling than pay attention to my own. It's not much of a test of my abstinence if I never allow myself to live life.

They're what, in their seventies? They must be vigorous.

My father would tell you they're stubborn.

Sometimes that's just as good.

gravy boat big enough to need its own tug to find a berth among the platters

we wanted to take Mum and Dad out for dinner but she didn't want to be bothered with the crowds and the service. Plus, at home, she's Queen Mum.

"I suspect that Mitch's mother will be the grande dame of the day [Mother's Day]. That should provide some diversion."

"Whose pain are you trying to divert?"

It was never your fault, Thea.

I know that. I'have for a very long time. The tough part is believing it.

"I don't know what they'll want or what they're ready for. That's the point of discussing it with them."

"How'd you get so smart about it?"

"I was a kid. I had opinions, and no one ever asked me what I wanted. It's not exactly rocket science."

No, Mitch thought. It was much, much harder.