Reaching out

Been out of commission for the past couple days due to the fact that I've had NO car. After talking with the police, then my insurance company, I got several calls from various agents of the Oklahoma Board of Transportation who were desperate to talk to me before I wound up on the news talking about how our state's bridges are falling apart. I told them to talk to my insurance company regarding the matter.

Given the nature of my claim, it took a little while to get a rental car from my insurance agent. Thanks to the internet, I worked from home on Friday. My plans for a surprise visit to to Nana and Papa's got thrown right out the window. I did give them a call to say hi.

I had pizza delivered Friday night and hung out at home with the cat. I gave Grace a call to talk some more. She had just dropped off Ben over at Jeff's house for the weekend. He had apparently gotten in her face over not doing this and not doing that. I did my best to try to console her, even resorting to apologizing on behalf of the entire male gender. This gave us a chance to talk about what had happened the night that I fought him outside the restaurant...and back in high school.

Back in high school, it was easy for Jeff to play the sympathy card to get Grace to side with him. It wasn't until this second fight that Grace saw that Jeff was the aggressor, not me. I still feel like shit over it nonetheless. The last thing I want anyone to think is that I am a violent guy. I took no pleasure out of beating the living crap out of the guy...twice. I told her this, not in so few words mind you. It was a bit of a bucket of ice water on the mood I was intending to set with this phone call, but it was something we needed to talk about sooner or later.

One thing that she and I have always had in common is an incredibly sarcastic sense of humor. While explaining how sorry I was for what I did to Jeff last month, she just stopped me and said she couldn't hold too much of a grudge over someone kicking her ex-husband's ass. We had a great laugh over that.

This led to a change of subject, namely my falling concrete incident. She kinda freaked out over it, pointing out how close I came to death. I hadn't thought of it all that way, but I'm lucky I was, at the very least, injured. Once I realized this, we both had a collective sigh of relief.

I told her that I'd let her know how the whole thing turns out with the car, and more importantly when I'll be able to make it back to Fort Smith to see Papa. It took us both a long time to say goodbye. A good sign in my book.