Looking for Peace and Calm

SURREAL  Did it seem surreal that Lisa would be sitting there in my "backyard" which really was the common area where the barbecue is and actually be chilling and looking relaxed? Lisa? relaxed? And EATING something? She had actually just come over after her full day of Saturday work to pick up Johnnie. She mentioned something about having some food from Zankou Chicken. Wooh! Zankou Chicken! How long had it been since I've had Zankou chicken. Can't deny I had been thinking about it for many a weekend to eat there. But I hadn't. And when she mentioned it, I asked if there were more leftovers so I can bum some off her. She had a plate but that was it. And then she asked maybe we can both eat right then and there, more than likely thinking about the patio area in front of my apartment unit. I mean why not? And why not the eating area by the barbecues? After all, Lisa would be the ONLY one in my circle that has not eaten back there. Heck even Sylvia and Quentin had seen eat and eaten back there way back when I first moved in. I thought it was harmless. And so it was that Lisa brought her food, ate there and while we just sat and chilled in the warm Saturday late afternoon sun, Johnnie and the dog were chasing each other in the grass area, very happy to leave mom and dad alone. Surreal. Johnnie climbing the tree there, the dog barking at him, Lisa and I just chatting away. Doesn't look like a broken family does it? LOL. Maybe because it isn't? Not so much anyway. I etched this moment in my memory only because any positive thing is always better than the negative stuff. For every negative feeling that I felt toward Lisa, just as I did a week ago, I will back fill and counteract with a memory of this afternoon. Otherwise it felt like just another Saturday. My goal was to chill with Johnnie and do basically nothing. After all, when he's with me during the week, it's always go-go-go from one class activity to another. Especially when I had to get up super-early because Lisa had a patient at 7:30 AM. That meant I had to give Johnnie a shower right there at Lisa's house and that we would have an early breakfast at Elysee. No matter, Johnnie got a freebie cookie didn't he? We did do some shopping at Target before going back home but we got started so early we were actually home before 10 AM. We were home so early Johnnie got to watch Raya and the Last Dragon yet again and finished the whole thing well before lunch. We went to Panda Express Westwood today, remembering that we used to come here and sit down and eat many a Saturday pre-pandemic. When we got back though my body reminded me i barely got 5 hours of sleep last night and I started to knock off. Even Johnnie shaking me awake every 10 minutes or so didn't help. He started to get so bored he was literally writing down the minutes on the clock before his mom would pick him up at 3:30. I did manage to play baseball outside with him for a half hour though. All this before Lisa came and the family interlude at the patio area. It wasn't all peace and quiet. Lisa still called Courtney who was supposedly on her way over. Locked down another play date for tomorrow. And by then I could feel myself wanting to kick them out to go home. I'm trying to think why I got so uncomfortable towards the end there. Likely an old program? Maybe I felt like Lisa was intruding on my peace and quiet at MY home? Something was going on. I gotta think about that one some. After all, even after they had left it was still barely 4 PM. Plenty of time to walk around my neighborhood on what turned out to be a very nice Saturday afternoon. By 5 PM I decided to venture out. That piece of chicken Lisa brought from Zankou had me finally inspired to go get Mediterranean food for dinner. And off I went searching for some south of me. I finally did find Tut's Mediterranean, which was barely a hole in the wall on Washington right off Grand View. Close enough to keep coming here if I liked it. I ordered the kefta kabob (ground beef) and brought it home. And before I ate it, I made sure I was at 9000 steps so I didn't have to worry about it the rest of the evening. And so finally I had my Mediterranean dinner and it was pretty good. I will definitely come back in the future. I ate dinner watching tales of the Pirate world in the 1700s at the height of its glory days. It was like watching the real Pirates of the Carribean right there in Nassau and Jamaica. And then later on I would watch some March Madness. Yep, UCLA did make the tournament, won it's play-in game last week and tonight blew out BYU in the first round. That was one thing that didn't happen last year was the NCAA tournament. Here's to hoping they win one more game and go to the Sweet Sixteen. And so it was that I did have a chill Saturday. Johnnie, Lisa and all.