rainy saturday
it is a very chill morning in the robertson household. the windows are open and i am listening to the combination of rain fall and my pandora “american analog set” station. it’s 9:30 am and even though the shades are open the apartment is dark. the temperature is 55 degrees right now and there are flash flood warnings posted. last saturday it was -3 degrees with a 25 mile an hour wind making an unbearable -29 wind chill. i feel like i slept through the winter and woke up in late march.
the holiday season is over for the year. thanksgiving and christmas were bearable. thanksgiving was sort of sucky because the pies and side dishes i prepared did not turn out well. seriously the worst food i’ve made in some time. luckily, i only had myself to disappoint. christmas morning i planned to attend a bike ride. the ride ended up being really short. the roads and trails are not clear enough to have a long, moderately paced ride. three people wiped out on the ride. we rode to a place called “the bagel.” the conversation at breakfast was pretty much the people who knew each other having a discussion. i got back home and had a pity party for about an hour and then snapped out of it. every since then i have been feeling pretty lucky to be alive, have a job, and roof over my head.
most of the appreciation for what i have here in chicago comes from the knowledge that i have worked for what i have. but another influence has presented itself, my brother. i heard from him again on the 24th. a quick five sentence email apologizing for not writing. he has been busy dealing with an insurance company about time off from work. i guess he has some sort of injury. i replied back wishing him a happy holiday and inquiring about his situation. he has not replied and i assume it’ll be at least a few weeks before he does. the little window into his life (that his few emails to me have created) has made me realize that maybe my life has not been so bad. i always thought he had it good because marcy very obviously favored him over me. he got a mother that consistently showed him she loved him. he also got aunts, uncles, cousins and the like. so as kids i think he may have gotten the better deal but as adults maybe we are switching places. this is all speculation of course because what do you really know about a person from a few emails.
Posted by in 15:57:25
hi tyra, i don’t know anything about your family life, but i do understand the distance that can form between relatives and the many strange emotions that relationship dynamic can stir up. i think the holiday season stretching from thanksgiving to christmas is over-rated. and to be honest, since my mom passed five years ago, i’ve had little interest in celebrating with the rest of my family. so, maybe next year some of us can get together, see a non-holiday focused movie, eat chinese food, and just celebrate being alive and well (for the most part). just a thought…i hope to see you next time i’m in chi-twon, possibly over the weekend of jan. 9-11…peace.
MK,
thank you for sharing your thoughts. i definitely want to hang next time you are in the city. let me know if you need a place to crash.
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