Interesting Experiences

Well, the last couple of weeks have had a few interesting experiences, though I have not been blogging regularly. Now, those of you who have never owned a house (and been hard pressed to make the mortgage at times) probably won't understand my excitement, but I got two new toilets (upstairs and down) and a pedestal sink. I simply got tired of toilets that ran, on and off, after flushing. Not every time, you understand, just whenever I forgot to check. Every time I did forget, each toilet would think, "Quick, she didn't check, run all night!" And they did.

 

Finally, fed up by the wasted water, I called my plumber to ask for a bid. He came and after I had accepted his bid and he was halfway out the door, I heard a voice tell him, "You know, I think I'll get a pedestal sink for the upstairs bathroom as well." I looked behind me for the voice, and realized the voice had come out of my own mouth. Now I had disliked the cabinet under that blue sink since the day I moved in 30 years ago. (I also hated the blue toilet, now replaced, and blue bathtub, still there, and the green shag rug, gone two days after we moved in.) I had not, however, planned to pay for a sink, but sure enough, by four o'clock the next afternoon, I had two great white toilets and a wonderful white pedestal sink. And two boxes of stuff that came out of the cabinet, of course.

 

The second surprising event was that I went on a date! Sort of. Now, don't get too excited. I didn't. I found her on Match.com, and she lives nearby. After a couple of e-mails and the exchange of phone numbers, we agreed to meet at a local grocery store-to go shopping for ingredients for a Death By Chocolate Cake (her idea, not mine, I am supposed to live on a strict food plan). And off we went, from one town to another, from store to store, each more full of goodies and sweets than the last. And she talked and talked and talked, trying to tell me everything about her extremely busy life, as we climbed in and out of her mega-van over and over (remember, I walk with a cane and have a bum right shoulder).

 

Now, don't get me wrong, I talked, too. Just not as much. Plus, I have not had an extremely busy last couple of years. I knowthe point of a "first date" is to get to know about someone, but I came away feeling that she has not had much experience at relationship in her life, especially when she told me she had not really dated in 20 years. I am looking for someone who is capable of healthy relationship, and I don't think she is. I'll see her again, I'm sure, because she does live an interesting, busy life. But only as a friend.

 

When I called up Meg to tell her I was going out (and to tell her my date's name, phone number and the area in which she lived), she told me, "Remember, Mom, you've gotta kiss a lotta frogs..." I answered like a 13 year old, " Meg, I'm not planning to kiss her!"  As I hung up, I could hear her roaring with laughter.

 

The third thing that has happened recently that I actually chose to skip the Super Bowl last night (not much of a surprise to anyone who knows me) to go to a UU Church to hear my favorite unknown trio, Mad Agnes. It's a "girl group" with a male singer, and no one is named Agnes. But, oh boy, can they do harmony. It's absolutely incredible. Plus some of their songs are so clever, and at the same time so poignant, that I am amazed. And the songs of one of them, Adrienne Jones, writes wonderfully clever lyrics. I have and listen often to all their CD's (all three of them) plus a couple done before they joined forces. Go and listen to them: http://www.madagnes.com. Buy a CD, send them off to England on the No Visible Means of Support Tour.

 

My life is still made up of mostly physical therapy and doctor's appointments, and days are still mostly long and lonely, but I am attempting to begin to find a life. And eventually I will have one that does not include toilets as a major excitement!

 

Blessings, Margo

Tags: two toilets and a pedestal sink, first date, Mad Agnes