Happy Ending No. 1: Mom, Marc, and I spent three and a half hours away from home today, but came back from the grocery store…the closest Trader Joe's, with four bags of food and twelve bottles of wine, including some L'Authentique Dad and I drank over buffalo and Mom's wonderful French fries.
Happy Ending No. 2: Today I made a major breakthrough. From an earlier blog entry in February: When I was twelve years old I got a few B's on my report card because I neglected to make up some math assignments due to a family trip and hid progress reports from my parents. I have never forgotten how my mother sobbed that this was how I thanked them for my opportunities. That was the last time I ever kept something major from my family, and I went on to a consistent string of Honor Roll and Dean's List...but the shame is still with me over a decade later. I have never stopped punishing myself for anything which I even THINK MIGHT hurt another human since then.
Turns out Mom and Dad forgot all about this. It feels…liberating. And I weigh 147 ½, so I have no reason to worry about my weight. There is nothing left for me to be upset about. My recent efforts at even-keeledness are working out brilliantly, and now I know how lucky I am to have a wonderful family and a great education in store.
Happy Ending No. 3, Best Of All: I had a fantastic dinner yesterday with Mark Wilson and Russell Waller, the latter one of the most remarkable personages of my life whom I have never written about. Russell Waller was a Socialist who could argue for half an hour as to why this was the ideal state of being, a firm agnostic at least, and the greatest gambler I have ever known, a man who could consider the angles of any casino game or bookmaking operation and figure out how to come out ahead. He made Boardman High a joy for me. Now he's going after a Ph. D. in ultra-complex mathematics…no surprise with his mind.
Robyn Repko was Russ's complete opposite: light, dainty, incredibly sweet-natured and seeing the best in people, from a troubled family where his was stable but never brought down. I adored her without ever seeing her as more than a friend, even when she beat me in my Oscar pool under my own tie-breaker rules. With Russ, she was blonde curls and big eyes to his dark looks and smoldering glare. She was attracted to him and, with Mark's help, convinced him to take her to a high school dance. She drove him crazy…mostly because she was so sensible and patient that she could win arguments by outlasting him. He soon realized this was a good thing, and chemistry had its way.
They went to Grinnell in Iowa together. She studied philosophy in Russia and England. Now they're off to Florida State for doctorates…as an engaged couple. It's the end of one stage in life but a greater beginning, and I pray they have lasting happiness…and that I can attend the wedding.
Mark also has a girlfriend he met swing-dancing. Have to give that a try.
Happy Ending No. 4: According to the London Times, women are getting more beautiful because the most attractive females are the ones doing the reproduction. It's nice to see genetics applied in a more useful way than peas…and it means there's hope for us all, lonely guys!
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