Adventures in Fine Dining

So.

Yesterday was dinner with the ex and his family. The whole evening had an almost...ethereal quality to it; I felt a little like we were on stage, preforming some staged version of our lives. I can't believe that Dooney (the ex's son) is four-years-old now. We were playing with him in the living room while Mom and Pop Dukes finished the meal, and the whole time I had the "no one hates a baby" series running through my head. I'm really glad that I don't remember number 2 or 3...because I know that they got progressively worse...and the first one was pretty awful. Meanwhile: Dooney is the sweetest kid on the face of the known planet; how TJ is managing to raise this amazing kid by himself is beyond me. [Side note: I will admit, thtat the whole...in the living room, playing with TJ and his son thing, made me sad for a brief moment. But I recovered by dinner]

Mom Dukes made me proud; she did not launch into her "you're supposed to be my daughter-in-law" speech like I thought she was going to. There were moments that I could feel her leaning in that direction, but she restrained herself to just a quick "it's not too late" when I hugged her before I left. Pop Dukes, on the other hand, had be told (by TJ) to cool off with the marriage suggestions, at various parts of the post-dinner conversation.

I promised a friend of mine that I wouldn't do anything I would regret, so when Mom and Pop Dukes took Dooney off to bed, I declined all invitations to go hang out at the park or Riverwalk or any other such place where we tend to flip the switch on our on-again/off-again situation to the "on" position, even when he made the sad face and baby voice. Go me.

Here is when I would say something clever to sum up the whole evening, but I've got nada. I was nervous that the whole ordeal was going to be a lot tougher than it was....yay for starting to move on and all that. Ya'll have a great rest of the year...I think this might be it for me until 2011.

Peace Be

Adventures in Parenting

So.

It is no secret that I have a world of issues surrounding my parents, specifically my Pops, that I should probably work through at some point if I'm going to live a happy and healthy life (bla bla bla). These alleged issues tend to affect relations with the folks on a relatively consistent basis, especially when I find myself in the immediate vicinity of the rents.....but yesterday, and today....the two of them have been acting...quite odd.

For example, today the entire family rode to church together....which we haven't done since 1998 when E2 got his driver's license. [Side note: E2 is my big brother. This should be common knowledge....but it might not be.  Also....completely unrelated - church was really good today. It was the first time I've been able to sit still through a service since Thanksgiving. So. Yeah. end note] Post-church....when mom asked what I had taken out for dinner today, Pop's response was: "Let's give her a break today; she's been cooking since she got home." Then he proceeded to ask me where I wanted to eat. A couple things happened at the resteraunt that normally would have caused him to flip out, either there, or in the car, or back at home...instead - he jumped on the Wii with the Munchkin...and is now asleep.

I'm...really starting to wonder what went down on their vacay that's making them (him) act so....human. Also...working on that whole paranoia thing too. Mm.

Peace Be

Adventures in Christmas Cheer

So.

Christmas 2010 has been...great, I think. Start the day off with the usual: church, fancy breakfast, and presents. [Sidenote: "fancy" here is used to mean pancakes. endnote] Gave the munchkin his preliminary presents: guitar stand for his bass, new strap for his bass, new accessories for the keyboard, couple ties, suspenders, new cd...and a couple other random trinkets to tide him over till the "real" gifts are opened when the rents get back home. The rents get back home. We open the rest of the munchkins gifts. We (the munchkin and I) spend....a ridulous amount of time on the Wii; then we (the whole fam) head to the Munchkin's Godparents' house for dinner. Had a blast over there. Mom remembered that Guesstures stresses me out, so when Godpop brought out the box, she somehow recruited enough additional players so that I could preform the duties of the head judge. [Side note: all games are serious...and require the decision making skills of a head judge. This person may also serve in the capacity of official time and score keepers. end note] Dinner was good. Godmom taught me (finally) how to make her bangin' Banana pudding, and now..I'm taking a break to blog before jumping back on the Wii.

Some...things to think about...

Haven't seen my Godbrother in something like 10 years....and he turned out to be beautiful. Like...legit gorgeous. Mm. I don't know what the standard policy is on hooking up with your baby brother's Godbrother....but I got his number anway. Gonna go hang out with him in Atlanta some time next week.

Also...my parents seem...different. To begin, my Mom is like....I speculated around Thanksgiving that she had been gaining weight, but I didn't think too much about it. But like...she ate breakfast, ate again at dinner, brought home some cake. She was mad...active at Godmom's house - it was good. And my Pop....I don't know...he usually finds a way to not be in the same room with me when I'm home...but he was very...just..present all day today. It was just a legit good day - all day....and now that I'm thinking about it - I'm starting to get paranoid that it's a calm before the storm kinda thing...so I'm going to get offline and go play some tennis or something.

Peace Be