The clothes are in the washer, Renton has been bathed and is now sulking in a corner . . . it must be Thursday! Thursdays have become chore days around here recently since two out of three Fridays I’m bookin’ it to Auburn or Alabaster for the weekend. I’d rather get stuff done now so I don’t come home late on Sunday and think, ‘Oh my God, I’ve no clean clothes to wear! And what is that funky smell coming from the garbage?!” I speak from experience here.
Today was a rather amusing day. Mid-morning I got to visit a residential construction site in one of the nicer neighborhoods in town. The first story framing was up along with the floor for the second level, which we were able to walk upon. I felt like King of the Mountain; we were very high up and had a wide view. I tell ya, it’s not every job that you get the chance to walk to the edge of a level three stories up, look over, and have your stomach do a few gymnastic moves just to remind you that, yes, you will go ‘splat!’ if you fall off. It’ll wake you up in the morning, just like a double-shot of espresso.
Ooooh, I need coffee now.
Later on that day, I was surprised by my co-workers, who threw a surprise birthday lunch for me, complete with homemade barbecue and cake! It was tremendously cool for them to do that for me; I didn’t even think they knew my birthday was coming up. I feel so loved.
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I’ve only been surprised for my birthday once before; for my 19th back in college. Wow, that’s been almost five years now — I feel so old. It was near the end of my freshmen year when Jennifer Frank was my roommate and I was dating that other guy, M-something. I was going to M-something’s apartment for dinner that night and Jennifer was going to watch movies w/ some sax buddies, but when we get to M-something’s place and he opens the door, all these people jump out and yell, “Surprise!”
I truly wish I had seen the look on my face then. No one had ever done anything like that for me before. Sure, I’d had birthday parties and get-togethers, but no one had ever gone to so much trouble before. All the friends that I had made over that first year in school were there, mostly a mix of band and Prattville people. We had an absolute blast that night; dinner and movies for everybody; lots of fun.
And yeah, later on that month M-something and I broke up, and a year later Jennifer and I could barely stand each other, but I certainly don’t regret any of my friendships with them all. How could I? M-something was the first guy that liked me more than a friend-like; the first guy I kissed (not counting that guy in kindergarten), and Jennifer was the best girl friend outside my family that I ever had. After that first year, though, we all changed, as teenagers are wont to do.
It sorta sucks that we all could not stay the same, but oh well, shit happens, especially in college. Thankfully, most of my memories are of the ‘good shit’ kind.
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