It's frustrating. It always strikes me as hypocritical for Christians to call this holiday season a time of good will when they turn around and demand everyone else conform to their ideas.
And I know, I know, not all Christians... no, not all Christians. Just the vocal ones. It'd be nice to see other Christians stand up against those ones, but they never do. They just complain when us non-Christians point out how they're being jerks. "Hey! Not all Christians..." That's what that is.
No, it's not all Christians. I'm letting one ass get to me. 'Cause that's all it takes. Every day there's someone who just has to be an ass, and today like all Christian Holiday's the ass is a Christian.
The day was quiet, for the most part. Especially in the morning. We did get a little business in the afternoon, but not enough to justify the staff we had. They offered to send me home, but I stayed in favor of letting another Christian, Carol, go home. Instead I stayed the whole shift and helped people close down so we could all get out sooner.
Hal was kind enough to come give me a ride home. He wanted to make sure and see me, even offering me a present. I accepted it, not wanting to be rude by turning it down. He did make sure though to recognize that I don't celebrate in that way and he wanted me to understand that I didn't have to return the gesture. But he had found a little pendant that he wanted me to have, and now was as good a time as any to give it to me. It's a necklace with a coin pendant in which is set an obsidian bead. He said it was meant to represent a total lunar eclipse, the coin made to look of ancient design stamped with the goddess Olwen on the back. It's made of tungsten and used to represent the sun's corona. The whole thing is beautiful, even the silver chain. And while there's some weight to it for it's size, I could see myself wearing this regularly. I thanked him. Sadly though, I couldn't thank him properly. I needed to get home, as did he. So I promised to thank him again later.
When I got home, Mom was on the phone with Efe. She let me say hi since his time was nearly up. He sounds good, and he said he was appreciating his time in the service. He loved that he was getting to travel and was making sure to take as many pictures as he could to share with me when he got home. I told him about Hal, and how he also liked to go hiking. Efe teased me about preferring books to joining him on his hikes. But, his time was soon up and we were saying goodbye before I felt we were really saying hi.
Mom said he wasn't able to talk about his current whereabouts, but that he'd mentioned visiting Hawaii and Japan, and that he'd put in for a chance to see Europe. They've got him moving around a lot, and he hasn't been stationed anywhere permanently. It sounds like he enjoys being on the move, which is very like him, but he's rarely in a place long enough to call.
Uncle Krikor called to wish us well. I've never actually met him, only ever talking to him over the phone. Like Efe he likes to move around, and it makes me wonder if Efe will ever come home. But he stays in touch, and always wants to know how things are and what's happening in my life. He's got a manor about him, even over the phone, that makes me feel comfortable and warm and I find myself telling him everything. I'd like to think I'd happily jump into his arms should I ever see him, but not knowing what he looks like I'm not sure how I'd actually act. He doesn't ever send mail, or pictures, and doesn't have any social media. So while Mom has some older photos of him when he was about my age, I don't think anyone knows what he looks like now.
I had taken Hal's gift out to tell him about it, and that was when Mom noticed it. She made such a big deal out of it! So embarrassing.
I handed the phone back to Mom after we'd talked for a while and joined Dad in front of the TV. He was watching some story about local women sports stars encouraging young girls to be more active. Bunny Rinne I knew, she's a favored competitor for next years Olympics. Skiing and Snowboarding, and huge into the X-games. The other was, I hope I'm spelling this right, Yeong? She's an up and coming competitor in MMA, and turns out she was a champion at the youth MMA competition earlier this month. I didn't hear much more, but Dad says they were talking about her competing lightweight professionally if it weren't for her age. As good as she is, she might have to wait out a year until she is old enough to go professional, she's too good for her age group. It sounds like she's petitioning to compete against the boys in order to keep competing. If they prevent her from competing next year, even with her reputation, it could hurt her chances going professional.
That is just amazing. Especially with the stories Dad has been pointing out over the last few years about girls playing football with the boys. It's about time they started letting us compete equally. That is just awesome!
We had dinner after Mom finished talking with Uncle Krikor. Because we all have such different schedules, this is the one thing we do do in order to celebrate. Just like Thanksgiving, we make sure to have dinner together as a family. Dad took the lead this time, with Mom's help of course. Since I had to work I wasn't able to help out. So I helped with the cleaning. It was amazing. Dad doesn't cook very often, but when he does he really does. He's always said he used to work as a cook before meeting Mom. Says it spoiled his enjoyment in the kitchen, so he avoids cooking normally. But like tonight, such good food.
Anyway, one more day at work, and then this weekend is the tubing trip. Better get some rest now while I can.
No comments:
Post a Comment