Greg's Goodbye Party

So what do I do my first Saturday with no Johnnie and no Lisa? Well go on over to her house of course LOL. And I took Claire with me too.  I wanted to wash all my bulk items and what better washer to use than Lisa's huge washer instead of going to the laundromat?! The last time I did that was about 3 months ago I think. It's time. And I decided to do one of my big pillows and all of Claire's towels to boot. Of course I wanted her in a controlled environment so I set up barriers so she stays in an area I could easily track. The one thing I noticed is that I am far more worried about her now than I am with Johnnie.  Great. No wonder I'm feeling a little bit of anxiety being alone with this dog?! Anyway I posted a pic of me folding Lisa's clothes. Yep, those would be Lisa's clothes. She left them in the dryer and then left a text asking one of us (me or Courtney) to put them away. Lisa just being Lisa. I had to do it because I needed to use the dryer obviously! Anyway I didn't get to the house until well past 9 AM. I had to have some breakfast first didn't I? And so I made myself nice and comfortable since I knew it would take at least a couple of hours to do the laundry. It's actually like being in a laundromat since this isn't my house but at least I could watch TV. And I could get some food to eat too. It gave me memories of that last summer before I left his house when they were in Hawaii. I had the place all to myself then too. I didn't like being alone in this house. I'm much more comfortable in my small apartment. While I was here I was mulling over numbers to see if I had enough to retire on this year and then I started to think about July 2013. That would be the time I pretty much had a schedule all to myself. I had just been let go by USC at the end of June that year. And I just got an offer from QueensCare and I was waiting on an offer from UCLA. And USC was still paying me which they would for the next 2 1/2 months still. I did not need to work. But work I did. I chose QueensCare and here I am 8 years later almost to the day actually. It was great to start something new. Lisa and I had just visited her uncle in Vegas, Lisa and I played golf, I ran a lot but back then I needed to go back to a job. Same place I was 7 years before that in 2006 when USC Dentistry let me go too. But that July in 2006 turned out to be the best time I've ever had and the best time with Lisa. So see? Not all Julys turned out to be like 2018. Most of them were plenty good actually. Anyway I spent the morning just relaxing at Lisa's couch, even watching Wolfblood which I found on her amazon Prime video account. Had me a nice fish sandwich from Burger King too only interrupted by Scott driving by, and leaving his present for Greg for tonight. He wasn't coming citing a danger to his wife with the Covid Delta variant picking up a head of steam in LA> though those of us that are vaccinated really aren't all that worried. 

Anyway that was the event of the day, Greg's goodbye party at Industry Hills. For some reason though the afternoon seemed to compress. I was getting this and that, puppy food for Claire, my golf clubs at Lisa's and pretty soon it was already almost 4 PM! The party started at 5 PM! And I knew without a doubt I would hit some kind of traffic. Still I got to the venue at 5:30 PM which really wasn't so bad. A lot of folks were there already. Of course the only ones I would know were Chris and Mandy and they would not get there until well past 6 PM. They must have hit the same wall of traffic from the westside as I did. Only my familiarity with the area got me there without relatively little stress. I mean it was like driving to my mom's house, which of course is just a few miles away. As far as the party, they really went all out. They had sushi for hor's doeuvres. Free drinks until the dinner got started (and then I paid $5 for a coke!!). I mean this thing was legit!! We were seated at a table with all of Greg's folks that he played golf with although really it was already enough to simply catch up with Chris and Mandy. I hadn't talked to Mandy since before the divorce actually. Their son Connor was not even one the last time we saw them. Now here we were, he's 3 turning 4 and Johnnie is turning 7 in a few months! Time sure passes. It was really good to catch up with them and I was very glad that I came, if not to hear Greg speak - according to his wife, as much as he ever had in 18 years of marriage. She is social and gregarious and a fitness instructor, and they as a couple would fit into one of those questions like: how did THEY ever get together? WHo knew?! The party had a full entertainment slate too. A comedian. A singer. and dancing. We made it to 9 PM with the comedian and then I started to worry about Claire all alone at home at night. And so I begged my leave. As did Chris and Mandy who had a sitter to worry about.  It was a really nice party and when I got home, Claire was doing just fine. Or so I thought...