Passages
7:33 a.m. - 2006-06-17


Jason told me that Jane's father died this week. He was a crusty retired policeman who had been ill for years, having had a stroke after heart surgery. Jane once told me that whenever one of her boyfriends was coming over to pick her up for a date, her dad would be there in the livingroom, pointedly cleaning his gun, while he grilled the boyfriend on his intentions toward Jane. It is a sad time for the Joels, and as I know from experience, no one can make it easier for you, you just have to live through it.

On a much happier note, Michael graduates from high school today. All the kids are growing up, but at least it will be about 4 years before Jellie graduates. I haven't heard about where Michael is going to college, but several places were after him because he is such a lacrosse star. I am so organized today, I have already sent off the graduation gift and card.

Had a nice week at work, no drama, but punctuated by intermittent stupidity on the part of escrow and lenders. I got one set of documents with a huge Post-it on it with the message "....and if you have any problems or questions about the documents, call me at the number below." A problem came up on the form of the documents so I called the number on the post-it and spoke to the lady who had signed the note. She tells me "I just passed the docs on, I don't know anything, you will have to call Herbert over at the other office". So I wasted time and money calling her, and why on earth did she put that big note on the docs if she knew nothing? My boss, hearing this exchange, tells me that we are dealing with idiots.

Our beautiful Spring evaporated into summer overnight. It was in the 90's yesterday. We, of course, do not have the shade cloth up yet in the back, so even though I came home at lunch and turned on the AC, it was not as cool in here as it could be. I hope it cools off a little by tomorrow because we still have one bed to till. Today we plan to putter around in the yard, and I am going to make a white cake with chocolate frosting for his father's day present.

I got my raise at work, and as usual it amounts to nothing much. My boss came over to whisper to me that I got my raise and told me how much in percentages of salary it was, so I told her "Oh, good, now I can buy a hamburger!" Because $20 bucks a week is not a major life changing event. Lucky for me and my uncontrolled sense of humour, my boss laughed at my comment. Even though over 5 years I have increased my salary by 30%, I am still making diddly squat. But that is every worker's lament, isn't it? I think the higher-ups make much higher salaries because they take vacations to Europe and own vacation homes and such, or support a wife and several kids, which I could never do on my salary.

He just brought the paper over to me to show me an artist's rendition of the new condo complex they are building right across the street from his office. Some friends of his were interested in buying over there, but at the time, about a year ago, the prices were around $800,000.00 for a small unit. He tells me that now the prices have gone up to a million a unit. A million dollars and no yard. I am sure there are people with that kind of money, and people are interested in living right downtown, but it still boggles the mind.

Time to go do my exercises.