And then the phone rings -
Sep. 14th, 2003 04:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyburgAgain. This time, it's Scott and he's at the airport. Scott, who works for the CIA in imaging. Is at the airport in Los Angeles.
It's another death. This time, it's Uncle Abe - and he was older than dust itself. But Scott's father - his mother died of MS complications a decade ago - needs him, tho' he won't say it.
And so - he is here.
Come on over, you remember the way, right? He was here the weekend following Fanime, he and his wife and two daughters. He's here solo, this time.
I can't feel anything but happy. I know his family well - heck, it's possible I was named for his mother - the families knew each other well. VERY well. When I introduced Scott to my mother when we were both in high school, she proceeded to tell him about what kind of baby he had been. Those things just don't come out in general conversation, Mom will say. The things people just don't say, I think. And shake my head.
His mother's name was Elaine, and both his parents knew both of mine, before either of us was born.
And Scott was the first boy to propose marriage to me. I was 16 and he scared the shit out of me. I am so glad he married someone who loved him as much as he loved her - he was an only child with a sick mother and was one of the most misunderstood folks I ever knew.
Moody as muddy water. Could easily have been called an alcoholic.
Just like me, he's had to do it all the hard way, all uphill. And he made it. His wife was down with Crohn's (finally lost the entire large intestine and has been functioning with an ileostomy for twenty years) and he ended up raising his two girls single-handed while working a full-time job changing oil at Sears - and going to school. He got his degree in photography at long last, and now he works for the CIA in imaging.
I remember when talking about it was a joke.
I remember when we disagreed on religion and he wouldn't have anything to do with me. I remember living with Cliff and the two of them hated each other, and Scott thought Cliff had done me a serious insult by doing so.
It is truly a blessing to forgive. And understand. Scott's wife would really like me to get on the bandwagon about how two "faggots" cost her a job because she was a Christian. I can't. She was adversarial and aggressive and not at all sorry to insult the people she worked for. Whatever the reason, that's not a good working relationship - and she needed to find another place to work and they had good reason on a personality fit basis to let her go. I said as much, being sympathetic to her plight - let's face it, that couldn't have been much fun.
We don't talk religion much. I wouldn't join the Calvary Chapel moofest and he couldn't understand why. My religious experience was when I was much younger - I don't need to convert to your way of thinking to be in the right with God. I guess being ahead of them was enough to piss them off.
So many thoughts. So much time. He and Jim just get along like they've known each other forever. What a switch.
And so Jim has gone to work, Scott is on his way to Hemet - and I am playing caretaker of the estate. Watering both yards, finishing the weekly housekeeping tasks - the weather is beautiful and cooperative. I won't have to wait until dark to do everything.
Another death in the family. It's that stage in life, I guess.
We took him to Curry House where he polished off a whole plate of the spicy, and I gave him a taste of the Suntory before he left for Hemet.
And the story continues to be written as we live it.
It's another death. This time, it's Uncle Abe - and he was older than dust itself. But Scott's father - his mother died of MS complications a decade ago - needs him, tho' he won't say it.
And so - he is here.
Come on over, you remember the way, right? He was here the weekend following Fanime, he and his wife and two daughters. He's here solo, this time.
I can't feel anything but happy. I know his family well - heck, it's possible I was named for his mother - the families knew each other well. VERY well. When I introduced Scott to my mother when we were both in high school, she proceeded to tell him about what kind of baby he had been. Those things just don't come out in general conversation, Mom will say. The things people just don't say, I think. And shake my head.
His mother's name was Elaine, and both his parents knew both of mine, before either of us was born.
And Scott was the first boy to propose marriage to me. I was 16 and he scared the shit out of me. I am so glad he married someone who loved him as much as he loved her - he was an only child with a sick mother and was one of the most misunderstood folks I ever knew.
Moody as muddy water. Could easily have been called an alcoholic.
Just like me, he's had to do it all the hard way, all uphill. And he made it. His wife was down with Crohn's (finally lost the entire large intestine and has been functioning with an ileostomy for twenty years) and he ended up raising his two girls single-handed while working a full-time job changing oil at Sears - and going to school. He got his degree in photography at long last, and now he works for the CIA in imaging.
I remember when talking about it was a joke.
I remember when we disagreed on religion and he wouldn't have anything to do with me. I remember living with Cliff and the two of them hated each other, and Scott thought Cliff had done me a serious insult by doing so.
It is truly a blessing to forgive. And understand. Scott's wife would really like me to get on the bandwagon about how two "faggots" cost her a job because she was a Christian. I can't. She was adversarial and aggressive and not at all sorry to insult the people she worked for. Whatever the reason, that's not a good working relationship - and she needed to find another place to work and they had good reason on a personality fit basis to let her go. I said as much, being sympathetic to her plight - let's face it, that couldn't have been much fun.
We don't talk religion much. I wouldn't join the Calvary Chapel moofest and he couldn't understand why. My religious experience was when I was much younger - I don't need to convert to your way of thinking to be in the right with God. I guess being ahead of them was enough to piss them off.
So many thoughts. So much time. He and Jim just get along like they've known each other forever. What a switch.
And so Jim has gone to work, Scott is on his way to Hemet - and I am playing caretaker of the estate. Watering both yards, finishing the weekly housekeeping tasks - the weather is beautiful and cooperative. I won't have to wait until dark to do everything.
Another death in the family. It's that stage in life, I guess.
We took him to Curry House where he polished off a whole plate of the spicy, and I gave him a taste of the Suntory before he left for Hemet.
And the story continues to be written as we live it.
