Persona non grata?

I have a friend. Well, I think I have a friend. I like her, anyway.

But she doesn't return calls or emails. I would say the reply rate is perhaps 20%, being generous with the percentages. So maybe the friendship isn't entirely mutual. But I will treat her with the kindness and understanding I would like to receive myself under similar circumstances. I don't want to judge unfairly. She's very busy with a husband in Iraq and 5 school-age children with her at home, with their soccer practices, etc.

But after leaving two phone messages on two different days, and three emails over a three-week period, am I wrong in expecting just a quick reply along the lines of "can't talk much now, but will get back to you soon" ??

Which I haven't gotten. So yesterday I decided to blog her. I'm reproducing it here, because I figured, why reinvent the wheel; I might as well copy and paste rather than retype!


.........And no, she hasn't responded to my "blog." I think I need to insulate my feelings a little bit here and mentally regard her as impersonally as I do this blog.

Without further ado, my email blog to my friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Because I know what's going on in your life by reading your blog, and because I haven't been able to reach/talk to you about mine on the telephone, I thought I'd email-blog you.

Last Monday I woke up with a Killer Headache. But, it being Monday, I have places to go/things to do, I accordingly pulled on the old sweats and t shirt and headed over to Dr. Jacobsen's to clean her house so she will teach my kids piano. (It's a good deal.) I ran out of the house without any coffee or breakfast and was really feeling wiped by the time 11:30 am rolled around, plus the headache had not abated one whit. The kids have their lessons at 12:30 Mondays, so I had enough time to run home, shower, and eat--and take care of the finances for the week, since Andy was going to the bank and needed cash to meet at Jack in the Box for his weekly Bible study/mentoring.

The only thing I managed to grab at home was some cheese toast and a cup of cold coffee. The headache has now gone to a violent throb, but I had places to go/things to do, so I hustled the kids into the van and back over to Dr. J's, where I collapsed on her couch, holding my head while listening to David play "Rex, The Tyrannosaur" (a very loud, pounding song) and Sammie play "Choo Choo Train" -her own composition, more pounding with strident 4ths/tritones. oy. About then I got that cold feeling in my stomach, and that watering in my mouth....ooooohhh noooo. Bolting for the freshly-cleaned bathroom, I christened the toilet I had pine-solled not two hours before. My headache actually dissipated somewhat as I heaved uncontrollably. Pressure. But it came right back as soon as I was finished hurling. Fortunately it was right at the end of their hour, so I bustled the kids back into the van, mumbling I know not what form of leave-taking to Dr J, and began the drive home. Before I even got to the end of the street, I had to pull over and add some color to the asphalt as well, while listening to the kids "Hey Mommy, what are you doing....eEEEEEEEEEeeewww!!" (at which point David wants to know 'what color is it?!!")

I limped home, feebly called all my monday piano students and cancelled their lessons for that day, and crawled into bed at 2 pm, where I remained for the next 18 hours, sleeping. That was definitely an experience.

Two days ago (that would be Tuesday) I waited with some unease for a phone call from my friend Lori. Yep, got the call. Do you know that I am beginning to dislike the Army? It moves my friends away. Lori and Joe will be leaving Fort Lewis and heading to New York City, where Joe will be a recruiter. He put in for Olympia, but The Army knows best, right. I know it's a great opportunity for them, but what about poor me? (being selfish)

Yesterday I had my monthly music teacher's meeting (you may remember my feelings of inferiority in the presence of these august individuals). This year we are studying the Romantic composers, and each person gets to present the life/music of a predetermined composer. Well yesterday was my day. Chopin. I played his Nocturne in F-sharp Major (rather well), and then gave a 10-15 minute speech on his bio and his contribution to Romantic music (which I did exceedingly well). I felt pretty good about the whole thing. When I got home, I was assaulted with "what's for lunch" (macaroni and cheese) and then two of my piano students showed up for makeup lessons (I'd forgotten, BUT I carried it off so they never noticed my brain fade).

After piano I decided maybe we should do some school this week (rolling eyes). We accomplished Math, phonics/spelling and printing, then I called it good and sent the kids out to play in the 65º weather. I started making dinner at 3, since we have to leave for karate at 4:45 to get there by 5:30 (it's out in Graham) - then rush back to the church by 7 for Women of Grace (which Lori is currently teaching instead of me....looks like that will have to change once she moves to New York in April). I have no white flour in the house, so I tried to make tortillas with whole wheat flour. Word: Don't. But the chicken and refried beans and tomatoes that went into the tortillas were mighty good. So we ate dinner at 4:15, drove out to karate, drove back, went to Bible study, and were back home by 8 pm. Piano practice! I filtered both kids through their practice routines by 9, got them in bed by 9:30, then sat at the piano until 11 pm (motivated by my earlier Chopin success, I turned my attention to the Bach, Mozart and Schubert pieces I've been poking at but not doing much with). My new piano has a practice rail on it.....step on the middle pedal, and a felt piece comes down between the hammers and the strings, effectively muffling the sound so the family isn't disturbed. Much.

After practicing piano for 1.5 hours I needed some mindless internet activity, so I went to Neopets. com and discovered that my Neopian stocks in SMUG had risen to 71 neopoints a share, so I sold off 500 stocks and cleared a tidy little profit. If only it worked that way for me in real life.

Midnight I turned off the computer and went to bed.

Now it's time to do some serious laundry around here.Ciao!
erin