Unforgettable

A long time ago, and therefore very far away, I was in love. It had happened before. It’s happened since. Never like the time in question though. Not even close. It’s one of the stranger twists my life has taken.

We were in our mid-late 20s when we got together. We both loved music, liked movies, enjoyed good fiction, and appreciated good food. The sex was off the charts. It got hotter over the four year course of our affair. Really.

The problems were simple. First and foremost, she was a fundamentalist Christian. I’d been brought up the same way, but managed to break the chains. She couldn’t. Her father was a preacher and her social support system, save me, was hardcore Jesus-freak. She had basically outgrown that simplistic view of the universe, but was too indoctrinated to make a break with it. Lastly, she wanted kids and I didn’t. She tried to talk herself into not wanting them, but she did (want them). In the end, Jesus and motherhood doomed “us”.

It’s been nearly 15 years since we last spoke and I still miss her. Sometimes it still hurts. Only for a minute though. Time cures that sort of thing, albeit very slowly. Our relationship made no sense. Love can take on a life of its own, however, and when that happens, all you can do is hold on and hope it doesn’t destroy you. I wanted her, but I know that for her to have been happy, I’d have had to have given her a couple of kids. I’d also have to be studying my Sunday School lesson about now. In a phrase, the price was just too high for us to pay.

2006: Goodbye and Good Riddance

For the most part, 2006 sucked pretty badly for me. I won’t recount the lows here and now. Instead I’ll tell you a little about my New Year’s Eve. It was fairly representative of the year as a whole.

There was but one must-do-mission on my plate; pick up Mom from the airport. Seemed simple enough. Having picked up many people at many airports over many years, I learned long ago to call and check on the flight’s status prior to departing to meet the plane. Actually I checked Delta’s web site, which indicated Mom’s flight was right on time 40 minutes prior to its scheduled arrival.

Once at the pitiful, and I’m being kind, Mobile Regional Airport, I checked the electronic flight information screen and it too indicated that Mom’s plane was minutes away from landing. A few minutes later Mom’s flight data scrolled off the top of the screen. Mom’s plane, however, wouldn’t touch down for nearly an hour and a half. There was no corrected info on the flight information screen. There was no announcement over the public address system. Just lots of waiting and staring at other confused rednecks.

Finally, an hour and a half behind schedule, we departed the pathetic Mobile Regional Airport. We hadn’t traveled two miles when Mom informed me she had to “poop”. I asked if she wanted me to find a bathroom, or perhaps a tree, but she said she could make it home. Mercifully she was right about that.

Prior to leaving for the airport I’d planned on picking up Churches chicken for supper. Mom said she could make it, so I pulled into the drive-through and assumed the third place in line. From the car I noticed there was one customer at the counter inside. 20 minutes later we exited the parking lot. Mom was squirming pretty good by then.

Well, Churches cheated us out of our biscuits and peppers. After the long waits at the airport and the drive-through, not to mention Mom’s pending poop, we neglected to check our order until we got home. Apparently Churches and Delta use the same customer service consultants.

Later, between 8 pm and midnight, I heard at least 100 gunshots in the immediate vicinity of the house. It pales in comparison to what I experienced in the hood in Memphis back in the 90s. That total ran into the thousands, but most of them were fired right around midnight. Here in Mobile, it peaked around 10. Go figure, but don’t go outside.

For my yesterday to have been a truly accurate reflection of my 2006, I’d have needed to total the car, have been car-jacked, and/or been a victim in some sort of terrorist attack at the ridiculous Mobile Regional Airport. Anyway, that’s the day and year that was. Here’s hoping for a turnaround in 2007.