So I've been gone for a few days (sorry!), and it's been kind of like the Magical Mystery Tour. It all began with a day trip to Asheville to meet the kids' dad for their spring break visit. My good friends Kat and Brooke rode with, and I took way too much allergy medicine on the ride there.
So, I'll set the scene. We hop off pretty much the first exit, with no idea where we're going, and almost immediately find the West End Bakery, a neat little coffee shop & bakery just chock full of people who looked like they just wandered off some trail on the mountain. The kids scampered around while I adjusted to my mental state of fogginess, trying to remember how much allergy meds I had taken and suddenly very curious if the establishment had almond milk. They did, so I got a latte, hoping the caffeine would bring me down a little.
[I don't think that's how it works. It didn't. Work, that is.]
So after a few moments, The Ex showed up and we had a very pleasant exchange, the kids were happy to see him, we transferred their stuff to his car, and they left, after excessive mom kisses and triple-checking their seat belts.
So when I went back in to the bakery, I suddenly wanted to walk. I talked to Kat and Brooke and we began Googling open air markets while returning to the car and I just started driving, with Brooke loosely navigating. Anyway, we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of downtown Asheville, parked, got the dogs strapped up, and began walking. We walked past what appeared to be a loop of coffee shops, head shops, and exotic cuisine restaurants, every fourth building being a coffee house that started the loop again. The streets teemed with people, dreadlocked and tattooed, smelling of patchouli.
We walked for about four hours, stopping frequently to chat with complete strangers who wanted to talk to, pet, and/or play with our dogs. After a frustrating time trying to find an ATM for a cash-only open-air coop where a guy was cooking wood-fired pizza in a homemade oven he had fashioned on a wooden cart behind his car, we just decided to get pho directly in the middle of the main thoroughfare and people watch. Three buskers were within eye and earshot...one juggling, one making balloon animals, and the third was a New Orleans-style jazz trio. We noshed on that pho like we were starving, then sleepily drove down the beautiful mountain to the Queen city.
I dropped off Kat and Brooke and then home for a shower before my date with Chris. Not so much a date as Time To Meet His Friends, that night where they determine if they like me and will tell him, "Hey, she's alright." or if they hate me and will perpetually talk shit about me and make excuses to not hang out in the future with Us As A Couple.
I know. No pressure, right? PLUS my head is STILL floating on a string about three feet above my shoulders. Oh, yeah, about that..I re-read the box. I was only supposed to take one at a time...I took two, and I was supposed to wait 4-6 hours and I took 4 pills within 3 hours. Oy vey.
Hoping a shower would work to bring me down...it didn't. Hoping a shot of espresso through a Starbucks drive-thru would work....it didn't. By the time I was walking in the door of EB's with Chris, I had given up so I drank a couple of beers and tried not to say too much. I'd rather come off as stuck-up than some crazy drunk or something.
The next day I finally felt better, like my head was normal, so we went to brunch with a couple of his friends and then wandered NoDa, just talking and hanging out when we wound up back at EBs and I finally met more of his friends and was capable of carrying on a conversation. Something struck me....Chris has a lot of friends, and they've all been his friends for years. I mean...like decades. They didn't have to say things like, "This is a great guy right here.." I just know it because they've been his friends for so long. Stuff like that is very reassuring.
So we made our way to my place, where watched an exorcist movie, which Chris talked half the way through before I told him to shut up and just watch. He laughed. I smiled.
Then Monday morning brought work for both of us, regular stuff, back to the grind. Today I've been working with him, after making a venison meat loaf (hey, even a vegan will eat meat if it's wild game...totally free range and chemical free!) and bringing it up to his office, where I'm finally plugging back in and catching up with the real world.
The past few days have been like a vacation. I miss the kids terribly- they give me such purpose and drive- but I really think it's good and healthy to have a vacation every once in a while, especially since I only get a vaca about two or three times a year. I've done more urban wandering and PBR consumption than I have in years, and some of my nostalgia and heart-wrenching missing of Norfolk is beginning to fade as I meet more and more people here and begin to acclimatize myself. Who knows if this relationship will last longer then the others...but I knew as soon as I met Chris that I had to give it a go. He's all those things I joked with friends, "This is what my dream man would do..." and had them roll their eyes and say things like, "Guys like that don't exist, Melissa." Well...I guess they do. Or one does. One crazy NPR-listening, hard-question-asking, recycling, hiking, wildlife guy who thinks I'm pretty and touches my hair.
So that's where I've been. Thanks for the vacation and thanks for the texts and messages. I'll be back on tomorrow, blowing up the news feed and maybe working on some more original stuff.
Love, love, love,
~m
No comments:
Post a Comment