Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Catching Up and... Dishes

We got a call from our friend Greg in Dee-troit early yesterday afternoon, inquiring about our capability for receiving photos on our cell phone.  As in: could we?  Well, no doubt we could, as that's entirely possible given that our cell phone is of recent vintage and does, in fact, have a vestigial camera as a piece-part of its innards.  But our cell phone's capabilities and our own are entirely different matters.  Best send any and all photos to my e-mail addy, I replied.  And so he did.

Several minutes later... and a LOT longer than I think is reasonable, but that's beside the point... said picture arrived in my in-box.  Greg gave no indication what the photo was about, only that I would find it "interesting."  And I most certainly did.  It was a portrait of a mutual friend... a woman who Greg became friends with back in his undergraduate days at Michigan State (that's a long time ago, given the fact Greg is in his mid-fifties), and a woman who was once a close friend of mine... let's call her "A."  A was a childhood friend and neighbor of The Second Mrs. Pennington; she's a chemical engineer who has been employed with a large consumer products firm in the Mid-West for her entire working life.  I first met her back before TSMP and I were married and she was a maid of honor at our wedding.  We go back a long, long ways, to say the very least.  I haven't seen A, nor have I talked to her since TSMP and I split the blanket 11 years ago.  A was TSMP's friend first and foremost, and I lost her in the divorce.  Because people take sides.

So... I called Greg back upon receiving the photo and said "So, you were in Big Mid-Western City, eh?  What the Hell were you doing there, and how is A these days?"  He caught me up... or as much as one can get caught up in the space of a phone conversation... and I was pleased to hear A is well.  She's happy.  Content.  Successful.  Greg and she had lunch together today and caught up with each other as much as one can in that short space of time.  And so Greg caught me up, and that was that.

I hung up the phone and stared at that picture for a while.  Divorce is a terrible thing.  Not only are hearts broken and families ripped asunder but one loses an entire circle of friends, as well.  Still and even, it was good to hear that A's doing well; I expected nothing less.  I just wish I could have known this first-hand as the years have passed by.  I miss the girl.

―:☺:―

Today's Pic:  The bolded sub-head is a throw-back, don'tcha know.  Time was when we posted a picture every day here at EIP, no matter how mundane or pedestrian they might have been.  Most were current, some were from the archives, and nearly all were breathtakingly bland.  And we shall not deviate from our blandness today...


That would be three days' worth of dishes, taken about an hour or so before this post hit the streets.  Rod Stewart told us "every picture tells a story (don't it)" in the way-back, and conventional wisdom holds that a picture is worth a thousand words.  Well, this picture speaks of too many meals eaten out and perhaps of too much drink taken in, what with three beer glasses, one G&T glass (which was rinsed and reused a couple o' times), and one whiskey tumbler (similarly rinsed and reused) vs. three coffee cups, one small plate, one bowl, and a handful of silver... mostly teaspoons.  How we manage to survive... and thrive... is beyond us.  Mayhap we DO require a certain amount of nagging in our life.  Or a cook.

12 comments:

  1. Hmmm, seems we were thinking along the same lines with that picture, young man!! And don't say it's too hot to eat, you can still eat a decent meal even in the heat!

    You're too thin! Eat! What are you trying to prove with all that drinking and not eating??

    (Yeah, I can nag with the best of them. Cooking for one isn't always the most fun.)

    :)

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  2. Most always good to hear about old friends. As for the cell phone photos, I know how to take a photo with the danged thing but what happens to it after, where it disappears to I can't fathom. The choices I'm given on the menu don't seem to connect to the process, if you knowwhatimean. So I usually just slam the thing shut and forget about the pic until the next time.

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  3. "Eat! Eat!" said in my best Italian accent while waving my arms around. Nothing wrong with going out to eat and having a few drinks, but why is it men cannot drink out of the same glass and rinse it out...nag, nag.

    I recently saw an old friend whom I had not seen since he divorced my best friend. I took the time to tell him that we had always loved him and never had hard feelings towards him. He seemed dumbstruck by that, but very humbled and thankful to hear it from me. Divorce is such a mess.

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  4. I echo Kath and Lou here - eat man, eat. I know you've mentioned in the past that you struggle to gain weight (a fact that will otherwise go uncommented-upon...) so it's not about that.

    Nutrition. Fresh made food. Vitally important.

    Beer and whiskey and G&T are all well and fine...but well...nag nag nag.

    I well remember a pair of friends we had years ago who got divorced - and it was an ugly divorce too. We loved the 2 of them very much but in the end, we had to choose sides. As you said it always happens in a divorce.

    Speaking as the friends who had to make that choice, and no matter how valid the reasons, we missed Mike horribly for a long time. We remained close to Kathy until she moved out of the area.

    Funny you mention A here; I was thinking of Mike & Kathy just this morning wondering how they both were. They divorced 20 years ago and sometimes I still miss their mutual friendship. We made a fun and funny group.

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  5. Cooking for one isn't always the most fun.

    And therein lies (most of) the problem. But then again, eating out alone is nearly as bad... except for the fact you don't have to do dishes.

    I know how to take a photo with the danged thing but what happens to it after, where it disappears to I can't fathom.

    There's ONE lonely picture living in the bowels of my phone, maybe more. The one I know of is one I took years ago and like you, Dan, couldn't figger out how to access it later. I think my sons have also sent pics... at least until I told them to stop. Mebbe I need a more user-friendly phone.

    ...but why is it men cannot drink out of the same glass and rinse it out...nag, nag.

    Ummm, Lou. Darlin'. I said I rinsed out and re-used both the G&T and whiskey glasses... did ya miss that? I just prefer a clean new glass for my beer. It's a fetish. And yeah, divorce IS a mess.

    Nutrition. Fresh made food. Vitally important.

    Beer and whiskey and G&T are all well and fine...but well...nag nag nag.


    Ahem. [puts on his BEST submissive voice] Yes, Dear. You're right, Dear. I won't/will (choose the appropriate entry) do it again, Dear.

    Re: lost friends. I hear ya. I think TSMP lost more than I did, but that's speculation on my part.

    I noticed ALL you women picked up on the nag thing right away. Mebbe if I gave all y'all my phone number you could set up some sorta rotating schedule, whereby you could take turns calling me up... just to nag. Think that would work? ;-)

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  6. Totally off topic here. Just read a book called Fighter Pilot by Robin Olds. Excellent book. If anyone bothers to pick it up I'm sure you'll see the similarities between Robin and Buck. Maybe not so much the job or rank but the language, personalities, and dedication are spot on.

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  7. Wow. Thanks, Anon! That's just about the nicest danged thing anyone's said about me in YEARS.

    You may have figured this out already, but Gen. Olds is one of my heroes. Our careers were similar only in that we were in uniform during the same time frame, but he was and still IS an Air Force legend. I was just on the phone with SN2 and told him I wished I could have served under the general in some capacity. Most all of my peers feel the same way. I have to get that book.

    Thanks again!

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  8. Buck - happy to oblige in your need to nag.

    And I don't see it - or anything use girls said - as nagging. I see it as genuine concern for someone we care about.

    YMMV. :-)

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  9. AAAGGGHHH!!!! You can't stack Waterford like that on its lip!! Dry and set upright!!!

    Okay -- that's out of my system.

    Glad you got to get caught up with A, even if only through the pipeline. Divorce can indeed be a mean thing.

    Then again, it can be a weird thing. When Pepper and the first Mrs. Pepper split the sheets, they consciously decided that they would focus all their energies on The Son, so that he would have two primary families that aded up to one big happy family instead of having to deal with animosity. It worked very well. But it got kinda weird. For example, my kids think of the FMP's mother as their grandmother (she even came to their school on grandparents' day). Also, in her second divorce, we apparently got custody of the FMP. She holidayed with us and went to our kids' programs.

    The FMP is now on marriage #3 and is happy. But we still see her all the time when we're in Arkansas because, of course, now there are the grandchildren! She was of invaluable assistance at our Elder Daughter's recent wedding, and even threw her a shower.

    Our friends think we're strange.

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  10. 1-800-dialnag - that could be us! I did miss the rinse and re-use, but still, I can drink out of a coffee cup all day long. I guess beer and whiskey are just not as good in a coffee cup.

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  11. I see it as genuine concern for someone we care about.

    Spoken like a REAL woman... as in: "doesn't ALL nagging begin that way?" ;-)

    Our friends think we're strange.

    Well... ya gotta admit it is, kinda-sorta. Still and even, I envy you that relationship, Moogie. Neither one of the relationships I have with my ex's could be called "positive." That's a sad thing.

    I guess beer and whiskey are just not as good in a coffee cup.

    Aiiieee! My father used to say "You don't eat steak out of a dog's dish, now, do ya?" He was right.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.