2004-05-28 - 11:24 a.m.
Well, yesterday was the last day of school for the kids (not for me). I feel like I�m cheating them of a summer by working and supporting the family as a single mother instead of being able to take them places through the weekdays like the pool or the beach or even up north to catch lightning bugs somehow. I will be able to do that someday soon. We will have good summer moments to come. We will eat watermelon and watch sunsets and laugh and read and swim a lot.
I finished PEACE LIKE A RIVER. And no matter how many times I type �peace� I always want to type �peach� and so, peaches are not like rivers. It was a very good book. I didn�t feel the desire to re-write the ending like I have been known to want to do. Now, I started on two different books. One is called, something that I forget. I�ll think of the title when I get to see it again. It�s at home beside the bed. I haven�t really been reading it too thoroughly. It�s thick and smart. Haha. The other one I�m reading is called THE LITTLE FRIEND, which everytime I touch or pick it up or look at it, I think of Scarface saying: �SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!!!� Kmmmm. It seems very good. They both do. The thicker one will be a read that needs more focusing.
When I was at the one pool party yesterday, I spoke with the lady, Shelly, who had loaned me the five books, two of which are mentioned above and of course, Peace Like a River, and a couple others. So, I was telling her how I had like nine more pages to go on the Peace book and that I�d give it back to her before she left. Cuz she leaves for the summer. First, they go to the Keys and then to Nashville where her sister�s family is out and it�s just her and her girls, Madison and Kinsey who go. The husband stays and works, cuz she doesn�t have to work, cuz he�s an anesthesiologist. They do this every summer. They split up and go their separate ways. It seems so damn grand. He still visits her up there but they have grown into their own beings and he�s a fisherman of sorts and so he is busy with boating and fishing which is something she can only handle so much of (I told her when she mentions him out on his boat that I picture Hemingway�s �OLD MAN AND THE SEA� and she laughed and said: �I KNOW, I DO TOO!!�). It was funny. I like talking to her. She has a great demeanor. She�s so nice and calm and smart and open-minded. So, anyway, they leave Tuesday and I told her I could return at least one of the five books she loaned me and she said: �Oh, God, no. Please, keep them. (I gasped.) Give them along to someone else. I�m not a hoarder for books. Charlie (her husband) just went on Amazon and bought these books they have from discount stores, and they�re like two and three dollars! He bought 25 of them!!! (My jaw dropped.) Yeah, I know! So, what are we going to do with them? Just keep those books. Make good use of them.� She�s sooooooooooooooooo nice. I fell in love with her right then. So, I�m going to make my mother read Peach Like a River...dammit, there I go again (peach). Fuck it. I�m not changing it. I�m going to miss Shelly the whole summer long. We are going to email each other. I wish we could hang out before she leaves. I wish I could go to the Keys with her. That would be fun. Hemingway�s house is down there. I wonder what she does while she�s down there. I wonder if she visits that or if they have a home they rent down there.
She�s a good mom and has lots of good ideas about different things. She had Madison�s birthday party a few weeks ago at this toy store that is designed to have parties there. They have an indoor �mini� bounce house and of course, it�s easy to go to a party like that cuz you can see what the kid wants cuz they fill a little �wish chest� or whatever they call it. And you can pick out some gifts from there. Thankfully, Madison picked some cheap gifts. I was realllllllly broke that week. They even gift wrap it. It�s a really great store. Some of the stuff isn�t badly priced and they have the original fun toys like Lincoln Logs. Yay. But anyway, I can�t believe she gave me those books. Or, rather, doesn�t want them back. That is too good to be true. What if she does it again? With more new books that she�s read that she knows I�ll like? I won�t know what to do with myself!!!!!! Sigh.
Welp. The office is closed Monday. That would be a good thing if my rent wasn�t going to be late. We will see. I asked Jimbo for money and he has to pay his rent too. But he said no and then he said we�ll see, which means he�ll give me SOMETHING eventually. I�m kinda glad we have Monday off. I can�t afford it by any means. But I won�t have to take the girls to daycare and I won�t have to go to work. It should be fun. I hope it�s sunny. I have a nice tan these days. If I do say so myself.
Nearby the office, there is a foot doctor�s office and then a Grandy�s and then a strip bar and next to them is a pizzeria place. Well, for the crazy horny weekend, the strip joint is doing a car wash (yes, this early...do you know how painful it is for strippers to wake up this early????) and the cars were lined up. I found out later on the radio the promotion is called �Red White and Boobs.� Nice. Not. So, the cars were lined up, of course, all construction worker guys. I use the very end of their parking lot to park my car cuz it�s behind the building of my office. So, I look really cute today in my capris and my hair is down, etc. So, I get out of my car, and all the guys are looking at me STARING. I�m used to it, but thoroughly annoyed by it. So, they were dismayed when I gathered up all my shit and walked away in the opposite direction to work. They thought I was going to go wash cars. Ha! Why would anyone promote sex before noon? I got out of my car at like 9 something a.m. Why would you want all those hormones steaming around the town? No one is attending to their work. It�s going to be a disaster. All the loser guys are going to be drinking earlier, and getting horny, and then what? Start their weekend ultra early? Great. I�m so glad Jimbo is down in Naples and not able to drive a car up here for that. I�m not jealous if he were to get a car wash, but don�t waste time when you could be working and giving me money. Ya know? Kmmm. Okay. Bye for now.
