Oh...I almost forgot this little anecdote:

On the Friday before Easter, I decided that I was going to go shopping for clothes in Silver Spring, then hump it to the Target in Wheaton. I was to be doing this while Melinda was at the pool doing water exercises. After that, I was to call Melinda so she would pick me up. Well, 'round nine, when I was done shopping and she was done at the pool, I walked around City Place (the mall in Silver Spring) looking for a pay phone, because I don't own a cell. Fiddy cents in hand, I finally found one and dialed Melinda.

"Please insert an additional fifty cents for a four minute call."

*Enraged*

I go and break a twenty to get fiddy more cents, then dial up Melinda. As soon as I start to speak, the line drops out, then picks up, over and over. I tried to slip in words like "mall" and "Three Brothers Pizza" hoping that she would know to pick me up in front of Three Brothers Pizza. Disgusted, I slam down the phone and go upstairs to stand on the corner outside of Three Brothers in the drizzle. All the time, I'm getting ragey, thinking, "If only Melinda had a land line, I wouldn't be in this situation." Of course, underneath was a low-frequency rage saying "If only I had a cell phone, I wouldn't be in this situation." So, after waiting impatiently for about 10 minutes, I make my way toward the Metro, ready to blow off this night--and jeopardize the weekend and who knows what else in the process--totally a big seething monkey. Eventually, I decide to take a cab to Melinda's and hope she's there. But it's impossible to get a cab unless your'e at the Silver Spring metro, so I went there. But just as I got there, a number 12 Ride On bus came. A sign! This bus drops off right in front of her building. So I get on that and ride. When I get to her building, I looked for her car in the parking lot.

Nothing.

So she did get my message. I went and stood out front, since a) her buzzer doesn't work and b) even if it did, she wasn't there to let me in. Finally, someone in her building let me in, and I proceeded into her apartment, slowly unwinding (and I had twined myself into a tightly wound ball of rage) the whole time, and decided to get the pint of Edy's Whole Fruit Peach Sorbet that I had bought the week before and tried to freeze my misery away. About 15 minutes later, Melinda shows up, exasperated and a bit ragey herself. Luckily, by that point, I had finished most of the sorbet and was feeling a'ight...and after trading stories (she heard "Three Brothers" and had been circling City Place for a half hour, hoping that there wasn't a Three Brothers in Wheaton, where I mentioned I might go, and even calling her ex-boyfriend to see if he could trace the location of the pay phone I called from, and if I had just waited five or ten more minutes, none of that probably would have happened) we just burst into laughter at the hilarity of it all.

As badly as that whole evening could have turned out, it's a blessing to have it end the way it did. Truly a blessing.

Been a month...and what a month it has been. Let's go to the videotape...

Well, where to begin. My youngest sister, Danielle, turned 18. It's so hard to imagine her now about to graduate high school, when the memories of a cute-as-a-button toddler with a perfect little afro puff are so vivid. She's turned out to be a wonderful person, despite my attempts to fuck her up as a child.

My mother also had a birthday. Not a mileston birthday like Danielle's (or Desiree, who turned 25 weeks prior, and my dad, who is turning 50 next month), but it was a good one, anyway. And just yesterday, my nephew celebrated his 4th birthday. And a week from tomorrow, my friend Ali is celebrating her birthday. Insane, insane, insane...all these birfdays. It ends with my father's and doesn't pick up again until September (as far as family is concerned). Anyway, as a result of all of these birthdays, I've been on the Eastern Shore several times in the last month. It's always great to see family (especially the little ones), but I'd be lying if I said it will be nice to get a bit of a breather. Until Mother's Day.

Easter also happened, and this year was special because it was the day I introduced Melinda to my family. It went excellently, with most of it spent in the Centreville town square running around with Aaron and Arianna. (My nephew and niece, for those of you new to this site.) Of course, my family loves her. And why shouldn't they? She's totally, totally awesome.

Which makes it even more miraculous that it almost didn't happen because of a meltdown the previous week. It all started when I was in a rage over the fact that my friends--suburbanites all--never seem to come into D.C. to party or hang out. This was prompted by my going to a BBQ at my friends Jamie and Jarod's place and crashing in a most uncomfortable position on their love seat in a room full of people the night before. I slept for a few hours before taking off for the Metro and getting home and not sleeping the whole day. Just raging. Then the next day, I had the worst day at work and honestly considered quitting there on the spot. Of course, who should bear the brunt of my rage? Melinda. Now, that's bad and inconsiderate enough, but then consider she's been having a lot of her own stress lately, and you've got the makings of a highly combustible situation. So, the next day (that would be Tuesday if the sequence of events has been confusing to this point), I took the day off from work and went downtown and spent the entire day in the sun (and a couple of museums, including my favorite, the Hirshhorn, which I hadn't been to in ages). It was fantastic. The evening was spent with Melinda, sitting at a fountain near the NGA and FTC building, flopping on the Mall (go capering squirrel!), and walking around. Eventually, when it was getting dark and we were trying to decide what to do (go find a restaurant, part ways, or go by her office to get clothes so she could spend the night), I guess I got a bit exasperated sounding and that upset M. I honestly wasn't in a bad mood, but I guess just the whole possibility that I could meltdown again freaked her out a little. We finally decided on dinner, and talked about the state of things, and while she didn't come out and say it, she kinda confirmed what I had been fearing, that she was starting to have reservations about our relationship. Anyway...we really hammered things out and by the time we went our separate ways that night, I was feeling better about that, too. That weekend, we spent the entire time together, she met my family, and have since kinda started rebuilding our relationship. Okay...maybe rebuilding is a bit dramatic...but I feel like we're going forward, instead of being stuck in the depressive morass I had us in. And that matters a lot to me.

What else has been happening? Hmmm...Ali's sister Meara had her first child, little Hannah. Adorable child. I won $25 in the NCAA tourney pool I was part of. And Melinda and I are planning on going to a bed and breakfast sometime in June. I'm looking for a new job, and hopefully will find one. But until then, with the meltdown, day in the sun rebalancing/repleneshing myself, and the time to just recontextualize my life since then, I am feeling a whole lot better about the state of my life in general. And I hope it continues.