A post in which it is Father's Day

I knew I had to get moving this morning, but I had a text from Eve explaining that no, actually, I didn't even have as much time as I thought I did.  Lunch, which I had thought would be at 11:30am, was actually at 11am.  Geez Louise, who the hell eats lunch at 11am??  Well apparently we all do, on Father's Day.  Of course I wasn't going to make a stink.  That was for later. 

I got ready and headed out.  Lisa, as per usual, was running late.  And she didn't even have the baby today.  I'm just sayin'.  That was fine.  I went on to the restaurant, because we had reservations and so they would be waiting there at the table.  Unsurprisingly, we were the first people there. 

Lunch went well.  We were at Lieu's, which they like.  Having learned how to eat there (I was initially underwhelmed), I like it too now.  I had been craving salmon today, and had a hunk o' that (a pretty small hunk for the price - $17, and a bit over-done too actually, but tasty).  After lunch there was a bit of jockeying for the check.  Dad was going to pay, but I just drew the line at his paying for his own Father's Day lunch.   I hadn't even bought him a gift, because he is impossible to buy for.  Anything he wants, he has, and if he doesn't have it, he doesn't want it.  To make matters worse, Rhonda had sent some of her brownies to Cole (they really aren't good for her diabetes).  I would have made Dad something (I used to make him pies) but now that he is diabetic I feel bad about making him sweets.  Then Lisa was insisting on chipping in for lunch.  Lisa, who has no money, two kids to raise, and is in the midst of the divorce from hell.  I nicely but firmly told them all that I would just pay for lunch.

We went back to the house for a visit.  Eve, having no qualms about giving Dad sweets, had bought a German chocolate pie for dessert.   I have been asking Dad and Eve for a picture of my grandmother that I took as a child.  It was commandeered for a family picture collage that hung in the old house, but they didn't hang the collage in the new house.  Eve had a box of pictures that she thought contained my old photo.  We spend the afternoon going through a huge box of pictures, but the one I was looking for wasn't in there.  Grrr.  Still it was nice going back through the old pictures, many of which I had forgotten.  It was quite a time capsule.  There were pictures of Lisa's first wedding, and pictures of me in high school.  I picked out a picture of me leaving for the senior prom to take with me.  It was nice, but it was bittersweet to look at how young and skinny I used to be.  It took me back to a time before I was so jaded.  I wasn't happy - most of high school was torture for me - but it really brought home how much water has gone under the bridge.  I was also a bit worried that there were pictures of Cindy, Paul, and Brenden in there.  This close to Brenden's birthday, especially, Eve is pretty much a powder-keg of emotion waiting to blow; but she did pretty well today, although I was studiously shunting those pictures to the side. 

Me, leaving for the prom, spring 1985.  Sigh.  I was so thin then, and I thought I was just borderline of beast-ugly.  BTW, that's an Alexander Julian 'Colours' lavender dinner jacket.  I was at the HEIGHT of fashion LOL

Lisa and Dad did much better than I had feared.  He's been haranguing her about selling their boat, but she can't because the property settlement isn't finalized yet.  Why this doesn't seem to register is beyond me, but he's like a dog with a bone.  This is one of the things she's frustrated about.  When he brought it up (yet again) today, I kind of weighed in and had her back (there really isn't anything she can do about it right now), and he didn't pursue it, which was nice.

By the end of the afternoon though, I felt rather wrung out.  As I was leaving, Lisa slipped money into my car for her portion of lunch.  She pointed it out, then jumped in her car and left.  At that point, I figured if she was that determined, there was little I could do.  Whatever.

Dana had called me earlier in the day, and I gratefully repaired to their place for a visit and to relax for a bit.  We ordered pizza and made an evening of it.  They caught me up a bit on their trip to Kentucky and stuff like that.  It was good to see them, as always. 

I heard from Jason today.  I haven't heard from him in a while.  He was here when his mother died this past winter.  I was in treatment at the time, and although he vowed to stay in better touch, neither one of us did.  But he wants to see me tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to it.  He's a special guy.  If nothing else, after the last month of rejections I could use the shoring up.