36 Hours in the Life of a Warrior Princess

Last night, after work, I loaded Jenn's nightmares (my old furniture) into her car, taking it to H' who was moving to a new place, getting her keys at 6pm or so.

We packed boxes in her old place, driving the loaded cars to the new one. The second we arrived? A text message from her ex-gf. She, "wanted to talk" (after 3 months of nothing). I insisted she go, assuring her I'd take care of her move. It was a great workout! Got it all in her place, unpacked everything, assembled tables etc, hung all the curtains, sorted out the kitchen, cleaned like a demon (the bruises I have today though!). Given she had had no furniture but that which we had given her, I wanted to make the place look like home asap (See pictures) as this was such a big event and with this text msg....ouch. The look of sheer gratefulness and relief when she got back was needless but touching. It had been a rough evening for her: she was very tearful and shaky.

We retired to her balcony for the mandatory ex-gf-meeting talk.

Then, at 10 pm, an awful thing:

I saw a dog stray into the road. I panicked, but then dog found the pavement. I was mad an owner was nowhere near. Five minutes later, I looked up, right at the wrong moment. I saw a car hit the dog and the dog was thrown high and helplessly in the air. I felt a cold sickness inside and involuntarily screamed, "No!". It was just horrific. The dull thud heard, when hitting the car is still making me emotional. The car kept going, it didn't stop. This alone makes me fill with horror. The whimpering cries of pain that followed were heartbreaking. I was about to call the police when a woman stopped her car mid traffic; she ran to the dog put it in her vehicle, driving fast away with flashers blinkering. You know - NO ONE on the street did anything when it happened...no, it took a woman veering off her journey and blocking traffic. Bystander apathy is NOT apathy, it is sheer inhumanity. Bystander inhumanity. We do this to people too, not just animals. It makes me feel helpless and defeated. Are we THAT disconnected??? I had a nightmare of all the above last night. It is still deeply unsettling for I doubt the dog could survive such a terrible thing.

This morning, we went to a funky breakfast place and walking back, I made H' check out the Goodwill...ended up carrying a blue chair and a cute footstool (pictures) back with us, among other things! It was sweltering heat and this thing = heavy! Inspired, procrastinating about the 100 boxes left to pack at her old place, we hit Dykea. Loaded with accouterments, we headed back finally packed more stuff driving it to the new place. After unpacking her books, H' just had to get a bookshelf from Goodwill ..off we went with 20 minutes till closing....and wearily carried one back on foot. Given she had NO furniture/rugs etc at all , you can see the place scrubbed up okay for less than $40 and under 24 hours!

Arrived back at Jenn and my home to load up more things Jenn and I had no use for, and after H' had tea, checked email and loaded her car anew, I bid her farewell....

In all of this, acutely, I miss my girl. I hope she is proud of me parting with the junk I have accumulated :). See baby, the pink bin is just a garbage memory for us now!

I miss you J' but I am so excited about your trip and all the adventures you're having!

We're like a piece of paper

with words written on both sides.

I would do anything,

right now,

to just sit,

back to back

- with you -

so we that can read our pages,

together, out loud.

H A P P Y

P R I D E !!