A post in which it is a very long day*

Sigh.  Jason had to leave today.  But we've had a lovely visit and it isn't forever, right?  I was up early, and turned off the alarm to spend a little quality time with him before I had to get ready for work.  He slept while I was getting ready, and then saw me off. 

I plunged right in today.  I had write-offs to do, and two days worth of calls, but I couldn't seem to settle in to work the way I needed to.  I got the calls caught up, but otherwise didn't really get as much done as I would have liked. 

After work it was off for supper with Dad and Eve.  When I got to the house, the den was full of wedding folks.  Judy's daughter, soon-to-be son-in-law, the daughter's best friend, and the daughter's two daughters were there, ages nine years and four days.  It was a mad-house.  They were signing the lease to rent the rental house Dad bought, everyone was talking, the floor was full of wedding doo-dads, and Dad was on the phone talking to the man working on the house at the same time. 

Eventually, Dad got off the phone, they signed the lease and cleared out, and we headed to dinner at Fried Green Tomatoes.  That was what Dad wanted, and it was fine with me.  After last Friday with Miss Kat and Dana, I still had a hankering for catfish, which they had.  It wasn't as good as what I had from Silver Bay, but it was still very good; and I just LOVE their biscuits.  I proceeded to eat too much.  I could see my reflection in the plate glass windows as we left the restaurant.  I look more like my dad every day.  Sigh. 

We went by the house after supper for Dad to talk to the guy about some carpet they are putting in, but Dad's guy wasn't there, so we had to go to their house, and then back out to the rental property later.  Dad had told me that he has arranged for the guy working on this house to re-do my bathroom in September, so I went to talk to him.  The house looks good.  They have done good work on it, and handled a bunch of unexpected stuff that came up during the job.  He's nice too.  I tried to not think about how cute he is.  We talked about my job and what I wanted, and went through the house with some curious neighbors who showed up to talk to Dad about a drainage issue in the yard.

I had managed to calm Dad down (somewhat) over the unfolding Lisa drama with Carl.  He's feeling put-upon.  He has tried to help her, but she suspects that he has something to do with the latest chapter, which involves my mother.  Sigh.  He popped and phutted most of the evening, on and off.  I understand the way he feels, but I tried to calm him down, because he can't vent and leave things.  His anger seems to just feed on itself and continue to build. 

After we got back to Dad and Eve's house, I set out for home, but my day wasn't over. 

I stopped at the store, and called Lisa to check in on her, and to fill her in on the Dad-status at the moment.  I also talked some more to her about my feeling that Dad really didn't have anything to do with this latest problem.  I truly don't.  I hope I'm right.  Lisa sounded good, but she's very upset, and rightly so. 

After I talked to her (one of the reasons I called was to check on her talk with Mom) I called Mother.  She and my aunts sold Granny's house and closed on it last week.  She posted some uncharacteristically down-sounding posts on Facebook today.  She didn't sound as bad as I had feared.  I probed her a bit for her feelings on the Lisa stuff, and talked to her some about selling the house.  I got the feeling that maybe she was trying to sound more OK than she was.  I set up a visit with her for this weekend.  I'll go down Saturday.  I needed to get some stuff she had for me from Granny's house anyway.

So that was on the drive home.  When I hung up the phone with her, I felt absolutely drained.  There had been a lot going on today.  With Jason leaving, all the problems, all the running around, the dealing with Dad, and then two supportive phone calls to make, I was all in.  I really wished Jason was at the house to come home to.  I called him, but he didn't answer. 

I got home and got ready for bed.  Just as I got in, I had a text from my baby.  It was good to hear from him.