postscript: the tale of the door lock

"What's that all about? You're on your birthday vacation, right?"

I am. Apparently, the external door lock to our 2-bedroom condo had chosen to do on holiday as well while we were out. When we returned from our day at Disney Springs, it was to a lock which was glowing with a red light. That meant it was no longer securing our suite at Cypress Pointe Resort from the external world!

"Oh, no! That's terrible!!!"

That's exactly what I told the folks at the front desk when I called to report the problem. Then, at 5:38 PM, about twenty minutes later, I texted them to remind them that we were still in a condo which could not be locked. Angel assured me that the maintenance crew was on the way. Sure enough, they were there within ten minutes.

"Well, that's good! You certainly didn't want that to go on into the night."

Funny you should say that. The man who arrived had suspected the battery for the lock, but that was not the issue. Over came another man, helping to disassemble the entire door lock mechanism. A third man had been called in by the time two hours had elapsed.

"Seriously?!"

Absolutely. I'm glad I'd sent Christina and the girls to the Volcano Pool without me. I stayed and patiently watched the Game Show Network, staying out of the way of the workers. I remembered too well my years in the Navy, doing maintenance on the electronics, and how aggravating it could be to have someone staring at me the whole time.

"Still, two hours had gone by? That meant the time was nearing 8 PM and nightfall."

Oh, I was well aware of that. But I knew asking them stupid questions like "how much longer will it be?" would not be helpful to me or them. It would be done when it was done, and not a minute earlier.

"What patience you had..."

Like I said, I've been in their shoes before. They ended up completely replacing the door lock mechanism. Like, all of it. Nothing that had been mounted on that door was still there, it was all new. They even made sure we had new keys for the new lock!

"Well, that's good."

And the girls all had their daily time in the pool, so all was well! They'd gotten hungry and ordered Papa John's pizza, so they brought that back with them. I'll be able to have pepperoni pizza and cold glass of milk for breakfast - magnificent! All's well that ends well!

since you've been gone, away

This morning, I was grateful when my ringing phone awakened me from a bad dream.
No, let's rephrase that.
It wasn't a bad dream - it was an incredibly sad dream.
I had been dragged back into the darkness, into the depths, into the deep, deep sadness of the world.
By my mind.
By my mind.
Heartbreaking, sobbing sadness, that I couldn't shake.
I wrote the dream down, needing to get the words out of my mind, set them free, release their hold.
Andy asked me if I knew where he could locate... some odd thing. I told him, "if it's anywhere, it's in Sam's locker." We then went to Sam Johnson's locker (full-length type, with a couple of shelves in it) and I opened it and we began pulling out items from the messy stacks on the middle shelf (the area where normally you would have hooks to hang stuff). At some point, I lost track of Andy - I was caught up by the smell of Sam still in the items. I pulled out a gymbag stuffed full and, holding it against my chest, placed my nose near it, inhaling deeply - and realized how much I still missed him. I wandered off, still clutching the gymbag to me, unaware of the locker or anything else. - Then I was home, still clutching the bag close so I could breathe in his scent. I knew it wasn't - good? healthy? sane? - so I called Hai, to ask him to come over. I knew he would understand. He knew Sam, too.
I cried as I wrote, as I reread the words. I just couldn't seem to stop...
Then, my first niece called.
Not texted.
Called.
And I answered, knowing she would hear the tears in my voice, trying to disguise them, failing. She knows me, knew I would tell her when I was able, knew to wait for it.
In the meantime, would I like to go to brunch with her and the baby? She was just coming from the church. Would I like to ride with them or meet them at the Atlanta Bread Company?
I want to ride with you, I said.
I didn't think I would leave the house on my own.
So she came by and I threw on clothes and escaped the dream.
We had a long visit together, talking and talking and talking. At one point, I tried to tell her about the dream and almost started bawling again. She understood and just let me be for a few minutes. Then the baby stirred and life slipped back on track.

Almost two and a half hours later, I was home again.
Home.