After spending a great day with Tom shopping for the Vodka I sampled in Vancouver, and not finding it, we hit a few more stores. Tom really helped to get my mind off that thing that happened Saturday night. Another thing that helped was his non-stop litany of jokes repeated from the movie “The Aristocrats” we had seen Friday night after work. I won’t go into it, but if you like raunchy humor, this is the movie for you. Pay special attention to Sara Silverman and her segment.

Even with the distractions, there were lingering thoughts poking thru from time to time. I’m pretty much past it. I’d admitted I was scared, but there was more. There was a sense of guilt for not having stood up for myself, embarrassment that I let myself get into that situation in the first place, and moments of laughing at my reactions to the situation while it was happening. For instance, when he was trying to reach me by going around the sign, he dropped his CD Player, the CD popped out and bounced across the platform. Me, ever the helpful person, stopped to point out that his CD player had fallen, momentarily attempted to assist picking it up, before I realized that this was the time to make my get away as he was scrambling for his CD. I completely forgot that I am 6’5” (ish) tall and could have probably scared him more with my height and size than he did me had I been more aggressive with him. No, I felt like I was the wimp of my high school football team being thrown into the garbage can after practice again. I felt small like a little kid afraid to stand up for himself because he never thought he should get into fights.

This morning as I was sitting at my desk working, (yes I worked today) I had another thought. Who did I call when I needed to be calmed and comforted? Three days have passed and I have yet to pick up the telephone to inform any member of my blood family. No, I called Padre (for his spiritual ness) and TLBO, cause well I always go to TLBO when I need to be truly comforted. For all his ADHD faults, he has always been there for me when I really needed him.

When TLBO and I were roommates, and I apologize if I’ve already written about this, he was a joy to share a house with. I cannot count the number of Friday afternoons where I would pull into the driveway and hear Gloria Estefan blaring from the windows of the house, only to find TLBO cleaning and vacuuming in his red cha cha heels. If I ever hear Gloria, Whitney, Maria, or J-Lo, I am immediately transported back to the year we spent in that little house in San Francisco. As an example of how TLBO was always looking out for my best interests, let me share with you how he handled telling me sensitive information.

I arrived home from work where he met me at the door, took my hand and led me to the couch in the living room. He sat me down and pressed a Xanax or some anti-anxiety medication into my hand, gave me a glass of water and informed me he’d be back in a few minutes when that had kicked in. Minutes later, he returned with a serious look on his face, and he joined me on the couch, held my hand and told me that we were being evicted from the house because our landlady wanted to move back into her own house.

He always told me better living through modern medicine.

Thank you all for your concern and words of well wishes. They mean a lot to me.