Jun. 16th, 2003 11:58 am
Father's Day
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muckefuckI just missed the 22 after leaving Casa ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
welcomerain y spookyfruit Saturday night, which turned a half-hour trip home into a 75 minute one. It was one a.m. before I got to sleep.
At 7:52, the Mare Upstairs' stereo went on. I thought about asking her to turn it off, but then I realise that she might not even be there. Like me, she probably sets her clock radio on "radio". And, like me, she probably forgets to turn it off sometimes when she's not around. So I just lay there and cursed her.
At 8:30, the phone rang. I ignored it, then thought it might be important and caved. It was the same dildo child who called last weekend. We had an enlightning (for said dildo) chat about phone etiquette and the importance of area codes. Next time this happens, I'm going to phone my number with every iteration of a Chicagoland area code until I get Dildo Mommy and have an enlightning chat with her about teaching your child a thing or two before turning them loose on the telephone.
At 9:30, Nuphy's daughter called and told me I didn't have to be to the hospital right at 11 a.m. At that point, though, more sleep was basically out of the question. I got a sluggish start, ate some leftovers, replenished my cash, and hailed a cab. Very chatty Turkish cabby. He used to work at Cousins with his uncle, so we had lots to chat about. At one point, I mistakenly tried to turn the discussion towards politics. My one comment about the Turkish AK Party caused him to fall suddenly silent.
Nuphy's daughter, Namuci, and her boyfriend were waiting for me in Nuphy's room. We talked for a bit and they left to get Namuci's boyfriend fed and on the road to Minneapolis before it got too late. I stayed talking to Nuphy and holding his hand. Two different nurses asked me if I was his son. Each time, I considered how much to tell them, but kept things simple and said "I'm a friend." Until then, I had forgotten it was Father's Day.
(Later, when I told Rubeus about this, he joked. "That guy has a lot of sons. He also has a lot of brothers. And they bring their sons, too. No daughters in that family, though.")
It reminded me of a Father's Day years earlier when I was not on good terms with my dad. Nuphy was surprised I wasn't going to call him and subtly reminded me that the day had gone by without his having heard from his two sons (neither of whom was speaking to him at the time). It made me realise what an asshole thing that would be, so I phoned Dad. This was the beginning of a period of reconciliation for us. I've been thankful to Nuphy for the nudge ever since.
I don't know if either of Nuphy's sons contacted him this Father's Day either. Namuci said they did visit on Thursday. The older one (who's merely cowardly as opposed to all-out crazy) was taking her to dinner that night and she hoped they'd stop by the hospital afterwards.
When Nuphy's daughter came back, I filed her in on what the pathologists had said while we waited for the nurses to adjust the dialysis set-up. Nuphy's Argentinian surgeon came by in preppy summer wear (khakis, sweater draped over the shoulders in jaunty fashion, etc.) and had a long, reassuring conversation with us. Then we waited for Rubeus and ottr4bear to arrive before heading back to Nuphy's house, Treppenheim. Unfortunately, they came just as the staff decided to shift Nuphy to a private room, a process which took over an hour (Everything that happens in the hospital seems to take four times longer than you think it should.) while we stayed and kept them company.
We didn't reach Treppenheim until 4 p.m., two hours after I was supposed to talk to Nibadi and make plans. Since I didn't know how long it would take to pay Nuphy's bills and time was getting tight, I gave him directions and told him to come over. Fortunately, we remembered that Nuphy uses Quicken® faithfully and we quickly isolated the two bills that needed to be taken care of. I wrote checks, made or took a few calls, and Namuci went off to meet her brother.
It was 6 p.m. beforenibadi came by. I was in the middle of a conversation with monshu, who had just made our lives immensely easier by agreeing to push off our date until Monday night--his last night in Chicago for two weeks. Navigating a strange city, nibadi had made almost every mistake possible. If I hadn't spotted him walking by on the sidewalk, he might still be wandering around the Near West Side trying to find Nuphy's poorly-labeled half-built subdivision. After we got him rested, we headed north and he bought me dinner at Tarascas.
Before we left Nuphy's, though,nibadi insisted that I call my father. Dad and I chatted for a half-hour or so about Nuphy's health (Dad's always been fond of him, to the point that he was relieved we didn't lose touch after the breakup), Dad's weekend, and wills. I found out where I would've grown up had my family been Eggersed. Yipe! All in all, I'm glad I kept the parents I started with.
welcomerain y spookyfruit Saturday night, which turned a half-hour trip home into a 75 minute one. It was one a.m. before I got to sleep.At 7:52, the Mare Upstairs' stereo went on. I thought about asking her to turn it off, but then I realise that she might not even be there. Like me, she probably sets her clock radio on "radio". And, like me, she probably forgets to turn it off sometimes when she's not around. So I just lay there and cursed her.
At 8:30, the phone rang. I ignored it, then thought it might be important and caved. It was the same dildo child who called last weekend. We had an enlightning (for said dildo) chat about phone etiquette and the importance of area codes. Next time this happens, I'm going to phone my number with every iteration of a Chicagoland area code until I get Dildo Mommy and have an enlightning chat with her about teaching your child a thing or two before turning them loose on the telephone.
At 9:30, Nuphy's daughter called and told me I didn't have to be to the hospital right at 11 a.m. At that point, though, more sleep was basically out of the question. I got a sluggish start, ate some leftovers, replenished my cash, and hailed a cab. Very chatty Turkish cabby. He used to work at Cousins with his uncle, so we had lots to chat about. At one point, I mistakenly tried to turn the discussion towards politics. My one comment about the Turkish AK Party caused him to fall suddenly silent.
Nuphy's daughter, Namuci, and her boyfriend were waiting for me in Nuphy's room. We talked for a bit and they left to get Namuci's boyfriend fed and on the road to Minneapolis before it got too late. I stayed talking to Nuphy and holding his hand. Two different nurses asked me if I was his son. Each time, I considered how much to tell them, but kept things simple and said "I'm a friend." Until then, I had forgotten it was Father's Day.
(Later, when I told Rubeus about this, he joked. "That guy has a lot of sons. He also has a lot of brothers. And they bring their sons, too. No daughters in that family, though.")
It reminded me of a Father's Day years earlier when I was not on good terms with my dad. Nuphy was surprised I wasn't going to call him and subtly reminded me that the day had gone by without his having heard from his two sons (neither of whom was speaking to him at the time). It made me realise what an asshole thing that would be, so I phoned Dad. This was the beginning of a period of reconciliation for us. I've been thankful to Nuphy for the nudge ever since.
I don't know if either of Nuphy's sons contacted him this Father's Day either. Namuci said they did visit on Thursday. The older one (who's merely cowardly as opposed to all-out crazy) was taking her to dinner that night and she hoped they'd stop by the hospital afterwards.
When Nuphy's daughter came back, I filed her in on what the pathologists had said while we waited for the nurses to adjust the dialysis set-up. Nuphy's Argentinian surgeon came by in preppy summer wear (khakis, sweater draped over the shoulders in jaunty fashion, etc.) and had a long, reassuring conversation with us. Then we waited for Rubeus and ottr4bear to arrive before heading back to Nuphy's house, Treppenheim. Unfortunately, they came just as the staff decided to shift Nuphy to a private room, a process which took over an hour (Everything that happens in the hospital seems to take four times longer than you think it should.) while we stayed and kept them company.
We didn't reach Treppenheim until 4 p.m., two hours after I was supposed to talk to Nibadi and make plans. Since I didn't know how long it would take to pay Nuphy's bills and time was getting tight, I gave him directions and told him to come over. Fortunately, we remembered that Nuphy uses Quicken® faithfully and we quickly isolated the two bills that needed to be taken care of. I wrote checks, made or took a few calls, and Namuci went off to meet her brother.
It was 6 p.m. before
nibadi came by. I was in the middle of a conversation with monshu, who had just made our lives immensely easier by agreeing to push off our date until Monday night--his last night in Chicago for two weeks. Navigating a strange city, nibadi had made almost every mistake possible. If I hadn't spotted him walking by on the sidewalk, he might still be wandering around the Near West Side trying to find Nuphy's poorly-labeled half-built subdivision. After we got him rested, we headed north and he bought me dinner at Tarascas.Before we left Nuphy's, though,
nibadi insisted that I call my father. Dad and I chatted for a half-hour or so about Nuphy's health (Dad's always been fond of him, to the point that he was relieved we didn't lose touch after the breakup), Dad's weekend, and wills. I found out where I would've grown up had my family been Eggersed. Yipe! All in all, I'm glad I kept the parents I started with.