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.