I got up while Robert was in the shower, mixed dressing into the salad I made for him yesterday, and along with a baggie with some croutons in it, a baggie with some Tostitos in it, and a plastic container of H&D dip, placed it by the front door to surprise him as he left for work.
My phone rang at about 9:30. It was Donna confirming our 10:30 breakfast date, which I had completely forgot about. We agreed to meet at Briggs in N. Raleigh 10:30ish.
We walked around the shopping center there while we waited for seating, and she caught me up on the drama that has become her life.
I had the most killer “3-cheese” omelet. It was so delicious.
At home I was shocked to find our (Donna’s and mine) friend Allen Croft as the first obituary in Saturday’s column in the N&O.
ALLEN JACKSON CROFT, Jr., died Wednesday, May 11 in Durham. He was 46 years old.
Allen was born in Beckley, W.V. and attended West Virginia Tech, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. He later graduated from his beloved school, the University of Virginia (UVA), with a master’s degree in Computer Science.
Allen was employed at IBM for 25 years as a computer programmer and was a member of the UVA Alumni Association.
When he wasn’t busy attending UVA athletic and social events, Allen enjoyed countless hours with his faithful companions, Sidney and Jack, his nine and eight year old boxers.
Allen is survived by his loving wife of eight years, June T. Croft of Durham; his mother, Gloria Fleming of Cleveland, OH; his father, Allen J. Croft, Sr. of Mebane;five siblings and several nieces and nephews.
A memorial gathering to celebrate Allen’s life will be held Sunday afternoon from 2 – 4 p.m. in Hall- Wynne Funeral Home, 1113 W. Main St., Durham.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to a charity of one’s choice.
Allen was the captain of our IBM intramural volleyball team a year that Donna and I played on his team. What a kind, gentle, just nice man. One year younger than I am. Sobering.
Vivian arrived at close to six o’clock. We had a cocktail, and ate some chip and dip. We ran to the ABC store, where I restocked my Canadian Club. We stopped at K-Mart, where she bought a pair of shoes. We went to Irregardless. It was packed. I knew it would be fairly busy, being a Saturday night, but hadn’t made reservations.
“How many?” asked the maitre d’.
“Two,” I said.
“Name on the reservation?”
“Oh I don’t have a reservation. Do you have anything at all?”
“No reservation? It’s graduation night.” he replied.
“Oh, I didn’t realize that. Okay, well if you don’t have room, we’ll just go somewhere else. Thanks.”
“Wait, wait.” he said peeping around the corner. “Right this way.”
That kind of shit annoys me. If you had a seat, why the drama?
We had some hummus and pita points for an appetizer, and each had a garden salad with their award-winning Lemon Tahini Dressing. I had the filet mignon for an entree, and Vivian had the Butternut Squash entree.
We used the waiting time to go through the available Alaskan cruise excursions to try and narrow them down to ones that mom and dad could do, and would be interested in. We did a pretty decent job paring down the extensive list. I have some follow-up to do now on it. I’m so glad she’s going on this trip with us.