I worked from home today, with a thousand things to do before being on vacation tomorrow through Friday.
Mom and dad were supposed to arrive at 3:00, but showed up shortly after 1:00. This really put a cramp in my work day. I was, however, glad to see that they’d made it safely.
I finished up two of the most critical items, and then we went to Applebees for a late lunch. Dad had riblets, mom had the Oriental chicken salad, and I had the Blackened Chicken salad. Yum. It was absolutely freezing in there, and we asked management to adjust the AC.
Mom and I attended the EAGLE roundtable with Claudia Woody. It was cool having her there. Mom was totally impressed with Claudia, and with the whole notion that we were having such a discussion in a place of business, much less in a place like IBM.
On the way out of IBM, we had a near-disaster. Mom got into the revolving doors in B002 behind me, and as I pushed the door, I heard her moan. When I turned around, I saw her on the ground, trapped in the glass area, on her knees and a little sideway. There was no room for her to maneuver in there, and no one for me to help.
A man came over, and we tried to reach in and grab her hand to help her get up. I was thinking, “Oh my God, I hope she didn’t break a hip.” She was reaching back trying to move her foot, which was smashed up against one panel of glass. Her face was smashed up against another. And with her two knee replacements, it was extremely difficult for her to be on her knees trying to manipulate her body to stand. Just a nightmare. After several minutes, she was able to reach our hands, and we slowly helped her up.
That nice man stayed with her while I went to get the car. Fortunately, she said her hip was bruised or hurt a little but that it wasn’t broken. It really shook us both up, though.
Later on, we (me, mom & dad) went to the Olive Garden for dinner. They both had spaghetti and meatballs. I had the Portobello Mushroom Ravioli, which was out of this world. We had some great dinner conversation, with the roundtable as an impetus, about being “out” and about my personal experience growing up. Mom got to ask the question that so many people in my life have asked me, “If you knew you were gay so young, how come you got married?”
It always amazes me how people can’t see how they participated in this decision. Who was I going to tell? Being gay was never mentioned in our home. Did you think I was thinking, “I can’t wait to tell someone this. Won’t they be excited for me?” I can’t be gay; gays are perverts, and I’m not a pervert.
We got to bed at a decent hour, but I had a totally restless night.