From The Hirp

I’m not sure how tonight will go, but my gut thinks it could get kind of emotional. Not that I see myself as some tough guy who can’t cry, it can happen. But tonight we’re going to dinner with my parents, and we’ll probably say our goodbyes. Mom will most definitely cry, and I know it won’t entertain me like it did when she cried at our wedding. Hell, I made it a point to try and ensure her tears. “Sunrise, Sunset” was like taking candy from a baby with no arms.

I’m least looking forward to seeing how my wife and the Kyd react. That’ll tear me up inside like in “Oz” when Nino Schibetta unknowingly digested broken glass. Man, I miss that show. Yeahanyway, I’m not sure how the Kyd will react. She really loves my folks, and they’re nuts about her, but she usually likes to keep her feelings out of the eyes of others. Except for at home, she has no problem letting us know exactly how she feels. I remember when I was just a year or so younger than she is now, and my neighbor and best friend moved to Pennsylvania. It sucked, and it was the first time I had to deal with someone moving away. The experience never really improves.

Then I’m worried about how the wife will take it. From the first time she met my parental units, they’ve gotten along amazingly well. No one’s wife gets along as well, or loves her in-laws more, and has all those feelings reciprocated. There may be some equals, but never more. As long as I’ve known my parents wanted to retire to Arizona, I know for a fact that her joining the family is making it easier for them to move, as well as harder. Easier because they know I’m in good hands, and harder because they’re leaving behind a new daughter.

And that makes the whole move harder on us too. We understand that this is what they want, but the timing sucks. Just a little over 6 months after we get married? No way around it, but it sucks. Although, it’ll be nice to go visit the desert while Kansas City is a popsicle. I just tried calling them, and their home phone number has already been turned off. They’ve had that number, or “they had”, since we moved here in the summer of ’89. Not that I really dial it often, thanks to the phonebook in my Centro, but in some strange way I feel sad about the phone number. I want to bury it, and mourn the loss of that randomly assigned 10 digit number. (I just typed a number, then the words “digit” and “number” consecutively, that’s three of the same thing)

I do have some regrets. I’ve been a bit of an asshole to them since they sold the house. I wish I handled it better, and was more supportive. And I also wish I had aborted the joke about the baby. Wow, I just said “aborted” and “baby” in the same sentence. But when I found out a friends’ sister-in-law, who has the same name as my wife, was preggars, well I couldn’t help myself. So I regret saying, “Chris is pregnant” even if it was kind of funny, it just wasn’t cool. The one time I actually kept a straight face too, go figure.