suddenly i see

Mom: So how'd your date go the other night?
Me: Oh, great, but he moved to Georgia the next day.
Mom: Way to go!
Me: Hey now, he was moving there before I met him.
Mom: That's not what I meant. Although, Jennie, why do you get involved with guys who don't live in the same state as you?
Me: Um.

It was one of those throw away comments, a joke really, that I haven't quite been able to get out of my head. Until I realized that I know exactly why I do that. Because there's little to no chance of a future, and yet it still gives me an excuse to not get attached to someone who lives, say, ten minutes away from me, that I might have to see every day. Because it's hard to hide The Crazy from someone you see every day. Just ask Heidi.

Anyway. Enough of that. This weekend marked the celebration of my sister turning 21. Friday after work was the celebration with the family.

Coworker: Ooh, you changed out of your scrubs, where are you going?
Me: To meet my family at a bar.
Coworker: . . .
Me: See you Monday!

And when I say "meet my family," I mean most of my aunts and uncles and my godfather as well as some friends of my parents who might as well BE family. Particularly Larry, who my dad has known since . . . I don't know, they were fetuses or whatever. As always, he asked me how things were going.

Larry: So, Jennie, how are you? No husbands? No babies?
Me: No, thank god.
Mom: No, Larry, I was a good mother and taught my girls about birth control.
Larry: Birth control, not self control, right?
Mom: Well, that is a very important difference.
Me: I'm leaving now.

Later my mom explained to Heidi and me how we'd know when we'd met the right guy which totally isn't fair because she met my dad when she was in junior high or something. WHAT. EVER. Also, she told me all sorts of family secrets. Don't ask her if she remembers, though, because judging by all the empty wine glasses that were sitting on our table, she totally doesn't.