True story!
and not once but twice!!
I know it sounds terrible and it probably is, but now it is something we try to laugh about. Maybe the story will make you fear me, but I truly hope you will chuckle instead, since no one was ever actually hurt.
Back in January, I talked about almost hitting Einstein with a car for the 3rd time.
Fortunately it never happened. Well THAT time it didn’t happen, but on one occasion, almost 30 years ago, I intentionally hit him with a car. That’s the only time I did it intentionally, but it was not my intention to kill him, or even hurt him seriously, it was to make him go away and to stop hurting me. Other than to say there was alcohol, bad decisions, and police involved, I’m going to leave that story there.
Several years later, when I dropped our then teenage daughter off with him for visitation, she was wearing a bright red Tshirt, like the one pictured above. I found it funny, he didn’t.
Several more years later, the three of us were looking through Thing One’s old photo albums and found a picture of her wearing said Tshirt. Neither of us laughed at that point. Actually we both got quiet, quiet enough that Thing One gave us a questioning look for an explanation. We revisited that bad time with her briefly reminding her that good people make bad decisions, and that we had both changed and had many regrets from our past. She shrugged it off, because she fortunately had never been witness to that part of our lives.
Maybe seven? years ago, Einstein had to take his car into Discount Tire, and asked me to meet him there to pick him up. This was the “alleged” or 2nd time I “hit him” w/the car.
When I pulled into the cul-de-sac ( my path in blue) Einstein walked from the store to stand approximately where the red X is. As he was walking out, I continued past him and did a U-turn in the culdesac. Before I stopped completely, HE WALKED into the front of my car. He says I ran into him, I say he walked into the car. (Contact was at Two miles an hour and bumper to pant leg…not even touching skin). We both stopped dead in our tracks and stared at each other. What the hell just happened?!??!
“Why did you keep walking?”, I shouted.
“Why didn’t you stop sooner?”, he retorted.
I don’t think either one of us said anything for many minutes.
My phone started ringing and I answered over the Bluetooth in my car. It was our daughter, Thing One. Before she could say anything, I said, ” OMG, Thing ONE, I just hit your dad with the car”. Her response was………wait for it…… “again?!?!?” Einstein exclaimed, “Seriously kiddo, that’s all I get? Not a is Dad ok? Why did you do it?!?!?, really just AGAIN?!?!?” She laughed and said, “Well you know how mom drives, and if she did actually hit you, you probably deserved it”.
Please be chuckling at this part!!!!
I know that it’s not a FUNNY story, but it is true.
At the beginning of this post, I said that I ALMOST hit him for a third time. Here is another picture.
So back in January, Einstein needed to do some work on his car, that he kept putting off, because he had my car to use as a back up, or me to drive him to and from work.
Usually, I got there 15 minutes before he got off work and sat in the parking lot waiting, but as I explained in my earlier post, MScog fog,slump week, and grieving, I had overslept.
When I arrived in the parking lot, (again me in blue and Einstein in Red) we both just stopped. Neither one of us moved for a few moments, until I moved the car along the green path and parked.
This time when he got in the car, we both said, “It really shouldn’t be this hard.”
The following month I moved out.
At the time I moved out, I foolishly thought that would be the end of US…whatever US was. At the end of the post I wrote in February, The Elephant in the room, I stated, “Can I please get off this roller coaster now?”
Moving out was the best thing I could have done. It did allow me to get off that particular roller coaster of emotions and start focusing on myself. But I didn’t leave the “theme park” entirely. Our daughter’s wedding, the upcoming birth of our grandchildren, the death of Einstein’s best friend, and many other things have brought us together again repeatedly, with the most recent being my needing help after my surgery.
Why am I writing about this? For many reasons.
A couple weeks ago, I wrote that it had been almost a year since I started blogging. I decided to take this time to reflect on how I survived last year, which areas I needed to improve on, and what goals I wanted to accomplish in the upcoming year. Einstein has been a big factor of my life for many years.
Living apart has been beneficial to us both. We no longer rely on or depend on each other. When we choose to spend time together, it is because we choose to, not because we have to. I am comfortable with that.
I really feels good to say I am comfortable. I am not looking at the future with or without him, I am just letting things be and for us, for me… THAT is progress. I am focusing on me. Focusing on improving my health both mentally and physically, FOR ME!
As I have spent the last couple of week rereading posts, one thing that continually proves itself is that I have found a wonderfully supportive group of friends in the blogging world and words alone can not convey my gratitude. In fact, if you have another minute I want those of you that have stuck around and keep coming back to know… You are one of the “resources” that keeps me going. THANK YOU!!!!
( Remember this part in the upcoming weeks)
MS Graceful...NOT! 