Alone in a new city — Saga #4: The 12 Days of Christmas

“The plan was, to take it ‘till the pain over, but what’s worse the pain or the hangover?”

-Kanye West

Everything can be related to a song lyric or an I Love Lucy episode. That lyric is not foreshadowing a drug use story. Sorry. More so, I was going to start this entry out as, well, it was going to go a little something like this…

The plan was to spend Thanksgiving with my family in Chicago. My goal was to move to Houston before the end of the year. Even though I know that Christmas with the family would have been nice, my biggest goal of 2015 was to get the heck out of dodge, so time was of the essence. Actually, I suppose I could have potentially had some company for NYE, now that is some foreshadowing on my next post, if I came after Christmas. My mom says sometimes I make things harder than they need to be, but my mind was set and so I left the first week in December. Yes, there is this thing called flight and there is also this thing called budget so I was not going to fly back home a few weeks from leaving.

Luckily, old homie, whom I mentioned in a previous post, considered this and invited me over to his house on Christmas. Sweet!

The whole week was mad weird. I’m going about my business, running errands very leisurely. You know, jacket optional sort of leisure. It was surreal really. I mean, I’m from Chicago.

I even buy this faux-fur jacket at the mall, thinking maybe this weather is a fluke or maybe it was just to bring some normalcy in to my life. Quite honestly, the fur jacket isn’t even my style. Well, actually it could be but I was actually reaching with that one, too dark and the lapel was not right.

Christmas Day was 83 degrees Fahrenheit.

I wore a neon green crop top to pay homage to Christmas colors and a skirt bare legged to bask in the fact that I’m experiencing the warmest Christmas on record in Houston. I consider being more conservative because his parents are going to be there, but hey it’s like I Dream of Jeannie in the 70s, my belly button didn’t show, so we are good right?

I didn’t feel like cooking so I didn’t. I asked what I should bring, he was super flexible non-committal in his answer. So I was like, bet. Wine.

My friend is a new home owner, when I visited Houston last February, I went home shopping with him and his wife. It was nice to see his new place. Their son, was clearly in charge, his toys and kid supplies taking center stage in the living room. I haven’t seen my friend’s parents since his wedding so it was good to see them.

I went in for the familiar hug. His dad, blocked me with his arm, which was funny because I was already doing the least-amount-of-touching-side-hug. I was cool with it because I dig my personal space too. It was the first time I experienced that, but we both kept it moving nothing needed to be said. I remember my friend saying that his dad was pretty conservative. So I started to think, perhaps he doesn’t hug women outside of his family. Interesting.

I gave the obligatory, “Can I help?” question to his wife and mother and sat my ass down happily when they said no. I played slinky and toy truck with their son, who was going to be two the next day. I was invited to their son’s birthday party, at Chuckie Cheese’s but my calendar was full with picking the lint off of my snuggie, so I couldn’t make it.

Dinner was cool, the food was decent. The conversation was polite. I liked the salad and the sweet potatoes with pecans in it, but was underwhelmed by the steak. My friend likes his a bit pinker than I do and it was just not that flavorful. Who am I to judge, I didn’t add anything to the feast, plus I was drinking all the wine. Well, two glasses to my friend’s one.

His parents excuse themselves from the table. I’m happy to have this time with him and his wife and attempt to get to know her more with questions. I had only met her twice previously. She has become increasingly more open which is nice. Minimal questions are asked about me. Maybe, it’s a family thing, my friend is pretty good at just talking about himself too.

I am cognizant to not overstay my welcome. I say my goodbyes and his parents gave me a card and my friend and his wife gave me a Christmas stocking with gifts. My friend tells me I can keep the contents but he would like the stocking back. That gave me the biggest smile of the night. It’s something I would do to a close friend as well. So I just asked for a grocery bag and am thrilled that they even thought of me for a gift. I really should have brought a gift. It’s drizzling when I leave his house but it’s warm like a summer night. I walk to my car slowly and take it all in.