I tend to feel the need to document any outing and take endless selfies in the hopes that one day it will trigger a memory of the day it was taken. Today I was so busy living and making the memory that I completely forgot to take any photos. It all started off with my waking up at 10ish all on my own, without an alarm to rouse me. I had dreamt that I was at Belgrade, at my grandmother's old rowhome, with my mother and, inexplicably, Matthias Schoenaerts, and I think Xavier popped in and out. Matthias was very stand-offish and sulked in a corner chair. Eventually we went out to the car to head home and every time I looked at a parked car it morphed into an old 1940s car. Anyway, once I was fully awake I became instantly excited because I remembered that the weather report for today was in the mid-70s and it would actually be nice out. Hurrah! I made two-oranges-three-apples juice and watched episodes of
Columbo from season two, while on a winning streak with my
Homescapes game. I even got a new character to name - a yellow lab that I called Lionel. Then it was a lunch of steak fries with vegan mayo. Absolute yum!
After a nice soak in the tub, I headed over to the library to pick up Family Ties seasons three and four plus Columbo season five and Dead Poets Society. I love the drive across two towns to reach the library, through the rich neighbourhood with the mansions and classy homes, especially those two cute ones with slate rooves. Roark's windows were down and I was daydreaming while listening to my latest playlist.
From the library I drove down to Delaware to COVID Central. Ashlee, Sean, and the girls all caught a - thank Christ - mild case of Corona and are on an official quarantine for at least two weeks. Ash said that they went food shopping not long before they got sick and didn't need anything, but I went over anyway to drop off some treats to keep them going. Sean unlocked the front door and everyone masked up
(myself included, of course, even though I'm fully vaxed) and stayed clear on the other side of the room. Like a wacky Santa with her Trader Joe's sack of goodies, I pulled out six pairs of
BlueQ socks for Sean
(the pair I gave him in May was a huge hit and he said they were his favourite socks ever - I couldn't resist spoiling him with more),
Cheetah Chomps cereal,
Birthday Cake crunchy cookies, organic raisins
(Bailey said, "these aren't my favourite raisins..." which her mother instantly scolded her for saying and told her to be polite and say thank you. Bailey then explained that she likes the ones that are chocolate best. Oh my gosh, how cute is she??!), and
Magical Animal Crackers, all gluten free, for the wee ladies, plus a sheet of blank sticker boxes to fill in with drawings, and
Crayola colouring pages. I also gave them my copy of
A Light in the Attic so that Ashlee could lull the girls to sleep with a fun bedtime rhyme from Shel Silverstein. Finally Ashlee said I could open their bedroom door to let Farley and Bonnie out. I gave them each treats and they were both so good and didn't bark or jump on me at all. Progress! Hugs and kisses from afar and then I was out the door to head home.
A nagging feeling told me to pull in to the Discount Cigarettes shop just before my turn-off to the bridge back to Jersey. I went in and the girl, all of maybe 18, behind the counter (Nicola Coughlin would play her in the movie of my life) called me "hon" (how Baltimore is that!) and made me feel about five. But in a good way. I asked her if they happened to have any Nat Sherman cigarettes and she stared straight ahead, eyes bulging out and her jaw dropping while her lips were closed in that "oh crap, do we??" way. I said I was specifically on the lookout for Black & Gold, as they've been discontinued. She, sweet as can be, went in the back storeroom and reappeared with a cube of FIVE packs!! Forty some bucks (so cheap!) and I all but skipped out the door saying "yay!!!" on my way out, causing Nicola to chuckle and say "be safe, hon."
Filled with a zing when I saw that the line of traffic I'd seen in the opposite side of the bridge on my way into Delaware was gone on my return journey to NJ, I felt like celebrating and continuing this day of awesomeness. It was 5:45...would Xavier be home from work yet? Probably not...but let's try! I called and booyah! He was home and said I could stop over. We sat in the garage, chatting and smoking and watched the first two episodes of
Warren. I gave Jackson a copy of
The Hobbit I had laying around
(Summer is for reading, after all!) and even saw Zach on his way to the gym in his "new" car.
(It's Mary's old Toyota that's been their extra car until Zach got his license.) Then Mary finished her nine hour day of working overtime and joined us. Not long after came a wonderful surprise -
Lisa stopped by! I hadn't seen her since September and it was so nice to get a great big hug and catch up with her for a bit. As I was heading home at 8PM and giving goodbye hugs, I scored a fistful of the best damn dark chocolate covered pretzels I've ever had in my life.
(Mary got them at the Amish Market yesterday.) They lasted until the first stop light after pulling out of their driveway.
I got home, avoiding all traffic, and whipped up a big skillet of seitan and veggies for dinner followed by an oatmeal chocolate chunk cookie while watching Dead Poet's Society, which was very good. I like that the boys all genuinely cared about not only doing well, but helping eachother do well in their classes and more importantly in their lives. They were supportive and caring in a way that isn't often portrayed in films about young men. Then it was back to some more Columbo and maybe I'll turn in around 1:30 or 2AM.
Today was nothing special and rather hum-drum, but everything went my way and I couldn't help but feel grateful. Even the screeching headache I've had for the last few hours can't bring me down. I saw eight of my favourite people on planet earth, rubba-rubba'd two puppers' sweet faces, got multiple hugs, scored more of the second best cigarettes created, and heard my baby brother tell his wife that Warren is "fuckin' hilarious" - and I was scared that he wouldn't like it as much as I do! A fab day from start to finish.
