My Summer Vacation

Today is Labor Day here in the United States, marking the unofficial end of summer. This three-day weekend is the last real hoorah of our summer season. Tomorrow, many of our schools will re-open for another school year, initiating the familiar routine which will carry us well into next year. (And one step closer to the holidays….)
Seattle has experienced a record-breaking year of summer weather. Last week I learned that we’d had over fifty straight days of 70°+ weather (that’s 21° Celsius) –which beat 1958′s record of 49 days. It’s been truly beautiful.
As far as the traditional summer activities go, this summer has been the least active summer of my life. (ex: A major highlight has been catching up on the first season episodes of The West Wing.) What can I say? I don’t socialize. Money has been tight, and I haven’t given up hope of finding a constructive social group to interact with. Knowing that I have been concentrating more on metaphysical study than ever before has been helpful, but not entirely compensatory. I’m still working with a sense of loss of social and creative outlets.
We’ve done a lot of thrifting this year, but we’ve stopped as of late. We’re still volunteering at St. VDP, but less frequently. My car has been acting up a bit and I really can’t afford to get stranded out in North Seattle. My brother-in-law will be looking at the car this weekend, and I’m hoping that it’s nothing serious.
We did have a garage sale weekend before last, but our turnout was lame. What a trip. Our apartment is two blocks off of the main arterial, and no one really wants to drive down here to check it out. Just a few blocks away, and people are swarming all over our neighbors’ yards. Oh, well.
Fortunately, the quiet tone of our summer has also helped me to recognize some precious little reminders. For example, breaking the routine, Mary and I were invited to a party over at Sarah and Dean’s last Sunday. It was great to be invited. It was nice to see many of the core O.P. regulars there. I kept to myself most of the time–not really to distance myself, but more to hold my mental geography, and to keep from bruising the ears of those who don’t really care to know my locality. It didn’t take long for me to remember why I have distanced myself from this particular form of hypnosis. Little has changed.
Oh, that reminds me, I’ve been very off and on again with my study. I had a good week of the most amazing study, and then got distracted by a bunch of stupid bullshit that seemed oh-so important at the time. I’m still studying, just not nearly at the same level. In his letter to the Hebrews, Paul encourages us to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” and I’m inclined to accept his kind instruction. I’ll be back at it soon enough.
In other news, my Mom graduated from college! She’s had a bunch of credits towards her degree for at least two decades, but never got around to completing. She’s been working on finishing her BA for about a year now, becoming a full-time student during her unemployment and taking night classes while working at her new job. She graduated, quietly, at the end of summer quarter. This is her personal victory for her, and I am very proud of her! Very happy for her, really. (Odd. I have a hard time describing this one.)
I haven’t heard a thing from Chuck. It’s been three weeks since I saw him last and gave him those sample designs for his trailer signage. I’ve left two messages, but have now given up on trying to contact him. He knows how to get in touch with me, and if something’s gone sideways, I shouldn’t have to stress about it. (Of course, him not returning my calls makes it hard to tell him that I bought a web site for him as a gift.)
Lessee, what else? There’s so much, and I’ve been negligent. I’m bouncing around a lot. How about the home front,
Kelsey moved out on Friday. This means that she’s packed most of her stuff and taken it to her dad’s out in Woodinville, where she’ll be going to school. Her bed and TV are still here for the time being, as are a number of things she’ll be sorting out when she comes to visit this weekend. She’ll be visiting every other weekend.
I don’t know what to say about this. My over developed bachelor-senses (i.e.: fear) are conflicting with my highest sense of right. Mary and I talk about the extra room, but we haven’t figured out what to do with it. I think about trying to accommodate Kelsey’s coming around every other weekend, but I haven’t been able to forget that she is anti-social and selfish,in other words: young. Am I supposed to make these changes required to accept a long-term relationship with these qualities? And how can I be so self-centered as to even feel this way about Mary’s daughter? Aarghhh.
Anyway, Kelsey is now at her dads, and Mary’s feeling it. It’s pretty bad at times, and I understand all too well. She loves her daughters so much, and none of this was in the brochure. Such sensational evidence to the contrary challenges the admission that our Father knows what he’s doing.
Mary’s been keeping herself active over the summer, too. She’s been going out for power walks in the mornings, and has changed her diet over the last few weeks. When feeling inspired, she continues to working on all digitizing all of her family photos.
Also, Mary is continuing to work on a new business venture with a good friend of hers. They are sending the emails back and forth, and getting together to talk business. I’m only peripherally involved, so I won’t go into details. They have said that they’ll need a logo, and I’ll be happy to help develop their marketing materials and courseware, or whatever, when the time comes.
The work situation may have a break this week. The Smart Department called last Friday about a job opportunity here in Ballard. I’d be working for an ad agency for a few days, doing production work. A messenger will be picking up and delivering my portfolio tomorrow, and I’ll know more after that. (I’m looking forward to working with The Smart Department.)
With a new job possibility on the horizon, I took time this weekend to get a haircut. (White people’s hair and black hair are sooo different, as I am continually reminded.) It’s now the shortest it’s ever been,but still not a fade. It feels nice.
Lastly, I talked with Narelle yesterday. I love her so much, and I’m so grateful we had the chance to talk, as we do. I think we talked for about two hours, but it could have been more. I hope I didn’t offend her.
During our conversation, I told her about my giving up caffeine. She laughed, and asked me about it. Doesn’t Squirt have caffeine in it? No. No more coffee at all? No. Huh.
You know, I do miss the ritual of the whole thing, though. I’ve enjoyed the morning walks for coffee, sitting at Vera’s for an extra half-an-hour, and the little panic attacks when I realize I really need a bathroom. However, much the same can be said for beer, hard liquor and the many substances its been my pleasure to abuse.