By the time you read this you'll be back from your trip. I hope you had a wonderful time and that you got some rest. By the way, you work too hard. If I worked as hard as you I'd be a millionaire.
At this time the lads are not causing me any grief or hardship. Both are doing well. My fingers are crossed. I never thought I would say that but it is true. Dancer, my youngest, is seriously thinking of moving to the city to the north to live with his grandma, my ex's mother. My Dad lives there too. My first reaction is sadness. I'll be sorry to see him go and I'll be sad about him not living with me. But I'm also excited. I think it would be fantastic for him to not live with a parent. I left home and went to another city after high school when I was 17. I doubt that everyone would be thrilled about going to Bible school but loved it and I had a blast. So listen to this.... He told me that the reason he wants to move is to get away from some of his friends that he feels are a bad influence. Wow. What a tremendous reason to leave. I'm impressed.
You have some interesting choices to make with respect to boyfriends. I wish you luck.
My situation is still complicated. But first I have to tell you that Grace finished the painting that she promised me. You'll have to come see it sometime. I think it is spectacular. I just got it this week and it is hanging in my bedroom so that I can see it when I wake up. The painting is an abstract landscape of New York City with the view point from a boat on the Hudson River. Fabulous. I love it.
Back to my love life or lack thereof. Pickles is still emailing me and inviting me to all kinds of things. I went to her niece's wedding a couple weekends ago. It was fun and we had a bit of fun after. She is good. But I just can't get too worked up about her. She is nice and all but just not for me. I can hardly explain it.
I did meet another gal, online. Actually Effervescent met me. I was just surfing around and she sent me a message. God, some of these women are aggressive. This one is especially so. I met her quite a few months ago at a coffee place. She told me how she was sick for many years and lost touch with her kids. Scary. Then she had to leave to go home and sleep - it was 8:30 pm. Not a good sign. I forgot about her until I saw her in Staples one day recently. I said hi. She emailed me and suggested going to an outdoor play. I replied that I would but that I was not interested in anything romantic. We still went. Then she invited me to a fireworks festival. I went but I can't even get close to interested. I feel like an idiot but she's as skinny as a rail. Skinny gals terrify me - too similar to Spandex. If I was a real man I would just take advantage of the situation but I can't. I'm just not like that.
The week of the wedding I went out three nights with three different women. It actually gets confusing. And once I managed to get my stories mixed up. That was embarrassing. Oops.
But let me tell you who I AM excited about. A few weeks ago I saw Cartwheels. I was ecstatic. I even talked to her but that was all I could do. Let me explain.
I'm sure I told you about her. I met her eight months ago just after Christmas at the neighborhood dog park. We had a wonderful conversation about her messed up sister and her Dad who's sick. She is a nurse. About 40. Cute. Friendly. Long blond hair that isn't falling out. She has a dog called Chunky that was a puppy at Christmas but is now huge - a Great Pyrenees. She's had a few of them which is fascinating because she is petite. I'm sure Chunky outweighs her.
Here's the problem. At the park, I couldn't figure out how to ask her for her phone # or give her mine. I had left my cell at home. I had no wallet where I always keep a business card. And what really held me back was that I was on the walk with my friend All-a-lone. Every couple of weeks he calls me (or I call him) because he is separated, depressed and unemployed. I worked with him in a couple different companies and we have stayed in touch. I like him and he is one of my good friends. He called because he wasn't with his kids that weekend and he was feeling lonely and sad. I've told him to call me anytime and he did. I was glad that he called. I invited him for dinner. He was reluctant because he's been over quite a few times for dinner. But I twisted his rubber arm. I made rice and curry - Canadian style. I even baked yeast naans. You missed a great meal.
Anyway before dinner he wanted to go for a walk so we took my dog to the same nearby park. Then I saw her. There she was - in living flesh. Cartwheels. The one I adore. I even talked with her for a bit. I wanted to ask her for her phone # or give her mine but I couldn't - not with Al there. And that was the problem. I just didn't felt right about all of a sudden focusing on her when I was going for a walk with Al. I was so torn. It was torture.
For the last three weeks I have been in agony because I thought it would be another 8 months before I saw her again. Four of those months - the first four - I would drive by the park to see if she was there and she never was. Then I gave up looking for her. I figured she had died or moved.
I was thrilled to see her again. Can you tell? During the brief conversation that we had she told me that she didn't come to this park very often because the people and the dogs are strange. I agree they are but the park is close and I don't really care about other people at dog parks. Except Cartwheels, of course. I seem to care about her. Since seeing her I have been going to the park or driving by the park looking for her. Every day I go - sometimes twice a day. But she is never there.
I've been trying to figure out what to do. How can I find her? How could I talk to her? Why did I never see her at the park for eight months? Obviously, I'm not a drawing card. I'm dying and she's killing me. It's tragic really.
She told me that she often goes to another park called Discovery Creek. I know where that park is so one Sunday I went there. It is quite a ways from my place and it isn't even an off lease park. What fun is that? The whole point of going to the park with a dog is to let them run around off their leash. I didn't go back. It is a huge park by a creek with lots of trees. The chances of being there at the same time and seeing her were too small. So I went back home to agonize.
Then lady luck (actually a group of young angels) helped me out. A week ago I saw a sign for a lemonade stand. I love lemonade stands and I always try to stop and buy a glass or two or four. I usually buy $5 worth. I love supporting young entrepreneurs. The sign pointed up a street that I don't think I have ever been on. I drove up, stopped at the lemonade stand and spent my $5 for four glasses of lemonade. Loved it. Then I carried on up the street and around a corner. There she was. Cartwheels herself. With her huge dog. Talking to a neighbor. Under a big elm tree. Smiling. Just as I was driving by she finished the conversation with her neighbor and started walking up the driveway to her house. Or what I thought was her house. My mind just froze. I didn't know what to do. So I just drove on only to continue my life in agony trying to figure out how to meet her again.
But I hatched a plan and tried it out last night. My plan was to go on a walk with my dog, go to her house, knock on the door and see if she wanted to go for a walk.
The main problem with this plan is that she is going to wonder how I found out where she lives - she may think I'm a stalker. Looking like a stalker is not going to increase my chances of success. I would bet that my chances would plummet. So I had to figure out a way to explain how I found her house. That is when I figured out that honesty is the best policy. I'll just tell her the truth about the lemonade stand.
So that is what I did. I ate dinner - cordon bleu. Delicious. I called the dog, leashed her up and off we went. I found the street. Walked up past the corner and up her drive way. I rang the door bell and waited. I heard something and my heart leaped. The door opened and some old lady asks, "How can I help you?". What a letdown. Dang. I had so much anticipation.
Not all is lost. The older lady is Cartwheel's mother. Very nice lady. I chatted her up, told her my lemonade story and left my business card.
Now I wait.
