Ugh. Another weekend when I'm busy in school, another funeral in Oklahoma. My mom's aunt passed at a fairly ripe age, and my mom asked me to come up and go with her to Oklahoma for the funeral. She just about never asks me for anything, so I oblige since it must be a pretty big deal to her. My mom got clingy at moments, which was odd, but she's a very strong person and took the loss pretty well around her family. Like virtually any family event, everyone knew who I was, since I was the baby, but I had no clue who anyone was. Here was a typical dialogue between me and a relative:
(relative): Hey Blake! It's so good to see you again! [It's been so long / You look terrific / How's college?]
me: Hey! [No idea who this is, but give a reassuring smile anyway.] [I know! It's good to see you too. / Thank you so much! / It's great, UT is totally the right place, and Vince is going to pull it out this year.] Regardless, I'm really tired of this funeral thing. Dear family: stay alive. Love, me. I wound up driving home to A-town on Sunday night, eating with Mom, then spending the night there chilling and studying. It just felt really weird to have this little voice reminding me I have class in the morning, and I'm in the wrong town. Once I finished working, I ended up having the first conversation in a long time with my dear old friend Monica. She's headed off to NYC, permanently this time, and so we ended up having this long conversation about how great it's been hanging out with one another and something about a crush and blah blah blah. All in all, it made me wish I had told her all this stuff a long time ago. There's a slight chance I'll get to see her one more time before she moves away and if that happens, I'll be overjoyed, but only until she leaves, at which point it'll be like a sad movie. Either way, there's a definite lesson to be learned: Tell people how much you appreciate them. Dear friends: I love you guys. Really, I do. Love, me. And now, since my post has had much sadness and much happiness, it's time for some deep thought. On the drive home, my mom spotted a pair of abandoned black labs on the road. She felt tempted to stop and pick them up, but didn't (probably mostly for my sake; animals and I don't get along). And it's like that for a lot of people. Whether it's a cute puppy, or a harmless and helpless turtle, or a guy who's down on his luck, we tend to avoid these situations thanks to high speed. Imagine transportation in the 1850s. If you were crossing a given state in the span of several weeks, and randomly came upon a lone dog or person, you'd just about have to include them in your trip. Nowadays, you can shrug it off. The creature you just saw will disappear as quickly as it appeared, and somewhere in the back of your head you dismiss it as "Well, I'm past it now, no use in turning back." Had you crawled up to the dog or person at an amazing 6 miles per hour, you'd have to interact with it. You can't simply stroll by a lone guy in the middle of nowhere without talking to him. The dog would probably follow you. Cars are great, they really are. But with every great innovation comes a cost that drains away a tiny part of your soul. Think about that next time you see a dog on the side of the road that got abandoned by its owner.
me: Hey! [No idea who this is, but give a reassuring smile anyway.] [I know! It's good to see you too. / Thank you so much! / It's great, UT is totally the right place, and Vince is going to pull it out this year.] Regardless, I'm really tired of this funeral thing. Dear family: stay alive. Love, me. I wound up driving home to A-town on Sunday night, eating with Mom, then spending the night there chilling and studying. It just felt really weird to have this little voice reminding me I have class in the morning, and I'm in the wrong town. Once I finished working, I ended up having the first conversation in a long time with my dear old friend Monica. She's headed off to NYC, permanently this time, and so we ended up having this long conversation about how great it's been hanging out with one another and something about a crush and blah blah blah. All in all, it made me wish I had told her all this stuff a long time ago. There's a slight chance I'll get to see her one more time before she moves away and if that happens, I'll be overjoyed, but only until she leaves, at which point it'll be like a sad movie. Either way, there's a definite lesson to be learned: Tell people how much you appreciate them. Dear friends: I love you guys. Really, I do. Love, me. And now, since my post has had much sadness and much happiness, it's time for some deep thought. On the drive home, my mom spotted a pair of abandoned black labs on the road. She felt tempted to stop and pick them up, but didn't (probably mostly for my sake; animals and I don't get along). And it's like that for a lot of people. Whether it's a cute puppy, or a harmless and helpless turtle, or a guy who's down on his luck, we tend to avoid these situations thanks to high speed. Imagine transportation in the 1850s. If you were crossing a given state in the span of several weeks, and randomly came upon a lone dog or person, you'd just about have to include them in your trip. Nowadays, you can shrug it off. The creature you just saw will disappear as quickly as it appeared, and somewhere in the back of your head you dismiss it as "Well, I'm past it now, no use in turning back." Had you crawled up to the dog or person at an amazing 6 miles per hour, you'd have to interact with it. You can't simply stroll by a lone guy in the middle of nowhere without talking to him. The dog would probably follow you. Cars are great, they really are. But with every great innovation comes a cost that drains away a tiny part of your soul. Think about that next time you see a dog on the side of the road that got abandoned by its owner.