• Trying to be nice.

    You know what they say, if you’ve got to try…

    I was finishing up the self appointed task of tidying up the family room. Mind you this was not a run of the mill tidying; but a furniture rearranging, inventory sorting, junk tossing, lifestyle assessing rumble in the jungle. Did I mention that I didn’t eat lunch?

    The next thing I know I’m driving to Cheryl’s parent’s place to visit with the Canadians. Did I mention they are french Canadians; French speaking french Canadians? Visits with these same French speaking french Canadians have had all the thrill of a foreign film without subtitles. With this kind of buildup, can you imagine how grumpy I was when we got there and they were all outside smoking on the patio? We went inside and watched T.V. – by ourselves. At least we didn’t miss the subtitles.

    Dinner rolled around and I didn’t say much. The French speaking french Canadians stopped smoking to come in and eat. They did a lot of speaking in their native tongue and I did a lot of brooding over my plate. Chances are I was giving off signals, because by the time desert rolled around one of the better english speakers started translating a few of the amusing anecdotes, trying to explain why everyone was laughing every now and again in order to bring me into the fold. We even had a few brief discussions, mostly small talk fare. The bottom line was this: they were good people, It’s just so hard to be friendly when your tired, hungry and you don’t know your visitor’s language.

  • Hockey night in Florida!

    Barely two years removed from wretchedness, the Lightning are treating us with performances that can only be described with superlatives. As of right now they are the best team in the Eastern Conference, and only a game back from being the best in the entire league. I was joking with a friend that for an encore, the Rays would finish second to the Yankees and qualify for the playoffs as a wild card (notice I didn’t suggest they would finish first – I may be unrealistic but I’m not snorting aerosol deodorant).

    I am happy to announce that I will be at the game tonight. The Devils of New Jersey are in town for a little action, hockey style. As I write this I am at work, waiting impatiently for quitting time. What better way to cope with the harsh realities of your life than to share it with others

  • Expectations.

    It goes almost without saying that level of disappointment is directly related to the level of expectation or enthusiasm prior to the event which caused said disappointment. Wow, that was a mouthfull. What exactly am I trying to say? Oh hell, I’ll just say it. We’ve had three miscarriages in the last year and a half. After that many I would think any normal person would tend to temper their expectations a bit, and I am no exception. Well, imagine something coming along to pump the situation with enthusiasm once again. In this case, Cheryl came home with twin smudges on an ultrasound. (For those of you out there I didn’t tell in person, please take no offense.) I know, I know – there’s nothing worse than being excited again, is there? Sarcasm aside – in the back of my mind I was afraid that I was being set up for another big fall. Well the big fall hasn’t quite come, but we seem to be teetering on the precipice. Cheryl had her weekly check-up and they didn’t find evidence of a heart beat. They qualified it by saying this has happened before (at her stage of pregnancy) and they still saw the heart beat later – with an eventual healthy delivery. At the same time, they were not overly enthusiastic either.

    Alas, the emotional roller continues. I must be a glutton for punishment, but I hope it continues for the next seven months and beyond. If it doesn’t it means my newly acquired expectations will have let me down. Again.