What a crazy weekend it was - and so different than how I had planned to spend it. I suppose that speaks to the futility of planning.
Since this weekend I was going to be in Ohio, we decided to move our usual Saturday movie night up to Friday, so we had a nice dinner and finished our Star Wars trilogy with Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I had booked a car service to the airport at 6:15 a.m., and I was up until almost 3 a.m. making last-minute preparations, so I only got a couple hours of sleep, figuring I would sleep on the plane.
I got to the airport in plenty of time to check in and get through security, and even get some breakfast. After eating, I'm walking toward the gate when I hear over the intercom that my flight to Columbus has been cancelled due to weather. I immediately turn around and head over to the customer service desk, and it turns out they are having a blizzard in Ohio, and no planes are landing in Columbus for the remainder of the day. The best they can do is get me on a flight tomorrow, which is pointless because the wedding was supposed to be Saturday. So I cancel the ticket and go sit in the Borders bookstore to make phone calls to cancel the rest of my itinerary and make sure my rewards account is being credited.
Since it's so early in the morning my family is still sleeping by the time I'm ready to leave, so I get a taxi home and crash for a few hours. In the afternoon I run my usual errands in town and then join my family on a trip to a store called National Liquidation Distributors, a closeout outlet store halfway between home and the city. I bought a cordless phone and some Mediterranean food in cans, like eggplant dip, hot lime relish and stuffed grape leaves. Tara and Bug found a facsimile of a long-discontinued cookie from their childhood.
I was planning to go home straight afterwards because I was still feeling the effects of my sleep cycle being so off, but Bee asked me to hang out that evening, alluding that she had things to share with me. She and I spent the evening assembling some bookshelves and talking about our relationship and the ups and downs we've been through in the past year while Tara shelved books in the next room and listened without participating in the talk.
Both Bee and I have had epiphanies of sorts recently. Mine occurred about six weeks ago that has drastically changed my relationship with Tara, and probably influenced her change of heart from last week. Saturday night we took the first tentative step toward developing a more honest friendship between us, and creating happier and healthier relationships with Tara.
After our talk, Bee went downstairs to do her yoga and get ready for bed, and Tara and I had a good talk as well about our relationship and where we see things going. We are still trying to figure out each other's comfort level in meeting each other's needs, and the limitations of our relationship due to circumstances continue to bother me. But I'm trying to make the best of things while recognizing that I have to be responsible for my own happiness and not rely on other people to change their lives to accommodate me.
After raining most of Friday and Saturday, Sunday dawned clear, bright and very windy, so we decided to have an outing to the Passaic River Falls in Paterson. Paterson is only about five minutes drive from my family's house, but it's a whole different world of urban decay and blight. Yet in the midst of the ghetto, there is a natural wonder - a waterfall that drops about eight stories in height among sheer rock cliffs, sending up a spray that creates rainbows on sunny days. There's a bridge across the length of the falls so you can get a really close look, especially if you don't mind getting wet. I'll post pictures tomorrow since I forgot to download them last night.
After this short trip, I went to Costco for some groceries, and to Target to return some shirts I'd bought Friday that don't fit right. The rest of the evening I stayed home and unpacked my suitcase and did several loads of laundry while watching episodes of Iron Chef America, Transamerican Love Story and Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles that I have on my DVR. I also found out that Joanna had to postpone her wedding until Sunday because the groom couldn't make it to the church in the snow. It sounds like she had to endure a much more chaotic weekend than mine, unfortunately.
