Presents Irony and Reflection in Book Two: The Fifteenth Year of the Third Millennium of the Common Era

The Holiday Weekend Comes to a Close.

Thursday night certainly proved to me that my Wife deals with the scum of the earth. From 7 pm to 8 pm; there would be an announcement every ten minutes that said “Thank you for shopping at Wal Mart. We will close our doors for the Holiday at 8 pm. Please finish your shopping and take your purchases to the front. The store will be closing in X minutes.” And yet… 8:15… people still refusing to stop shopping. Employees saying “Can I help you take your purchases to the front?” only to hear “Bitch, get away from me I ain’t finished yet!” Awful. Truly awful. On my way out of the store, I saw that the manager was outside the front doors with a cadre of individuals wearing bright orange Security Vests. A man probably in his 30s was approaching the door (now at 8:20). The manager said in a kind voice, “Sorry sir, we’re closed now.” The man didn’t listen or break stride. The manager stated again, more assertively, “Sorry sir, the store is closed.” Again, the man continued. While the manager was saying yet again, “We’re closed” the man tried to push his way past the manager and security! Then, as I waited in my car for Wife to finish up, clock out, and join me… I saw no less than 60 more cars pull into the Wal Mart parking lot (on Christmas eve) between 8:30 and 9:00 and then start shouting and freaking out when they couldn’t get in to Wal Mart. Maybe I’m a calloused prick… but if you are doing your Christmas shopping at 9 on Christmas Eve… maybe it isn’t Wal Mart’s fault that your “Christmas is ruined.”

Christmas morning was great fun. I quickly fell behind in present unwrapping as I was keeping my eye on my niece as she unwrapped her presents. My presents, however, were awesome. Several video games and Anime Blu Rays quickly made me think, “Oh shit; I’m never going to have time to enjoy all of these!” But hands down, the best present was from Wife. I collected Fleer Marvel Cards as a kid. I had almost all of the 1994 “Poster” run but I was missing around 18 cards. Wife found and purchased all 18 cards for me. I have never before had a “completed collection” of anything… and now I do. It was pretty cool!!

After that, we quickly drove the 3 hours to Wife’s parents’ church. Unfortunately, on the way there (as, I suppose, could have been expected)… Mother In Law called an audible. Instead of Dinner then Presents as happens always.... we get a call while we’re still 2 hours away that the In Laws had decided to open presents before dinner… on a whim… no real reason. Wife was very upset as she wanted to be present when everyone opened their gifts. But she wasn’t as upset about not seeing it as she was upset that her mother would just make that decision without considering us. I stifled my primary instinct to point out that Wife rarely considers others when making decisions and simply did Supportive Husband role. We got to the church, ate food, unwrapped our presents and gave the presents we brought and that was the night.

The next day, we went to Wife’s aunt’s house just as half the cousins were leaving. Again… it seems nobody in that family prioritizes communication or consideration. Oh well. We said quick goodbyes and ate some food before joining the remaining cousins to see STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS. While I am still very upset that the Bantam Books are no longer cannon… the movie was good and still managed to use some ideas from the now non-cannon literature. Of course, I prefer to think of it in Comic Book Alternate Universe Terms.... there is the Lucas-Verse, The Bantam-Verse, and the Disney-Verse.

After the movie, Wife and I decided to spend the night with my brother, sister in law, and niece! It was… mostly good. Niece took quite the shine to her Uncle (which was cool) and wanted me to play with her the whole evening; even asking that I read the first two stories for bedtime. That was good. Then my brother and I got into an argument (as is relatively inevitable) and I’ll discuss that more later. After time with them and a good rest, we stopped by my parents again to say our goodbyes and discuss New Years plans then back to Omaha. A whirlwind trip with almost 1000 miles added to the car. As Wife said, “We slept in 4 different beds in 4 nights!”

But the argument with my brother got me thinking about how my relationship is strained with me and Wife and me and Brother. There is certainly love and caring and friendship… but also strife and arguments and misunderstanding. And it made me wonder as to my interactions with people… maybe it is me.

On the drive from Hazelton to Ames, my wife was far more interested in her phone than in sharing any words with me… listening to me, having a conversation with me, anything. And it upset me.

Later, at my brothers he decided to start telling me how I should go about trying to get a job… like running an Art/Tech firm gave him special insight into how to get an attorney position. After saying nothing new, I encouraged him that I had tried everything he suggested and to stop. I did not need a lecture on things I already knew and was already doing. His response was, “Well, nothing you’ve been doing has worked, so you’ve gotta do something different.” I admit… I got upset. I outlined all of the the things I’ve been doing, explained all of the ways possible to get work, and then demonstrated that what I have been doing is all of those things. To which he said, “It seems like you think I’m giving you a hard time. What I’m saying is: what you’ve been doing isn’t working.” I told him that his suggestions were not novel, new, or needed. So he said, “So what you’re saying is that you want me to shut up.” I kind of threw my hands up and said Sure. He was quite for a solid hour as we watched an episode of “Vikings.” After that hour, everything was fine… it wasn’t like some relationship defining argument but.... the whole process of it seemed like a page out of how Wife and I fight.

So… maybe it is me.

I asked Wife about it afterwards… if I was over the line or if Brother was saying things I simply couldn’t understand. Wife said, “It seems like it is just frustration. He’s frustrated that you don’t have a job, so he tries to help. You’re frustrated because you’re doing everything you can. So as he is telling you what he thinks you should try, you’re thinking about how that worked for you when you tried it.”