I try to live a relatively low drama life. Doesn't always work out that way.

So Valentine's Day has been fraught with angst many times over my lifetime. Sometimes it's good, sometimes not. Honestly I wonder if somehow the date is cursed. Wasn't there a huge Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago perpetrated by the mob 100 years ago? Yeah, 1929, so not quite 100 years. This year we get another massacre. There's a lot going on about that. I'm super proud of the students for speaking out, and have real hope for the first time in a while that perhaps the legislators will make significant changes. Dan Savage had an interesting proposal on his Lovecast podcast this week. Suspend all gun sales for 30 days after a mass shooting. There's more to what he said and I can't articulate it well right now and I've come to talk about a more personal Valentine's Day kerfuffle.

Twitch was born on Valentine's Day in 1991. As much as I love my son and am proud of the man he's become, I did not want to have a baby on Valentine's Day. Wasn't my choice, though, was it.

This year I was chillin' at home, enjoying the peace. I'd made some crispy rice treats for Twitch, planned to deliver them (big double batch) to the restaurant where he works to celebrate his birthday and so he could share the goodies with his coworkers. I also wanted to make nice with the crew at the restaurant. It's my favorite place in town. I've mentioned it before. Beer and brick oven pizza. Yum.

I was waiting for Twitch's shift to start, was going to deliver the goodies around 5. At 4:30 I got a call from, of all places, Turbeville, SC, from the prison where Sproing has been incarcerated. This woman was calling to tell me that Sproing was being released. Today. Right now. Can I come pick him up?

Immediate anxiety "episode". I hesitate to call it an attack, because I can still breathe, my heart rate only elevates a little bit. I dunno. I wasn't comfortable. Shit.

First thing I told her was "Do you know where I live?" I assume she looks at her paperwork there, says Greenwood. Yep. Do you know how far away Greenwood is from Turbeville? No, I can't drive all that way right now. She says we can meet in Columbia, which is a good halfway distance from both locations. Well shit. I do NOT WANT TO DO THIS!

We agreed on a location in Columbia to meet. I got off the phone and pitched a fit. Lots of cussing. Lots of I don't want to do this. But it needs to be done, and I do what needs to be done. Adulting sucks sometimes. So after giving myself a pep-talk I took the treats to Twitch, told him I had to get his brother, and went to get his brother.

I won't bore you with the details. They're tedious anyway. After a few calls back and forth on the cell phone of his driver, we met at the agreed location. It was easy. He got out of the other car, said goodbye, got into my car, and OH SHIT SPROING  IS HERE, GOING HOME WITH ME, SHIT I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS. Breathe. Breathe. I breathed a lot last Wednesday.

This came totally out of the blue. I thought he would be in prison for another year, year and a half. Surprise!

Shit. So he's home. It's gone well so far, but he's still on his best behavior. He needs to get the FUCK out of my house. I keep dropping hints. hee hee.

But I'm not home right now. I'm at the most bestest coffee shop in all of western Pennsylvania. I'm visiting Light in Indiana, PA. Indianapa. She's getting married in less than two months, and I have the sample dress for her to try on. Did I mention I'm making her wedding dress? Well, trying to, anyway. It's light lavender satin with a white lace overlay. I've not sewn these fabrics before. I got a length of satin and some lace with which to practice. I got most of the dress constructed before I left home, but there's a little bit left to do. It's been a royal pain in the ass, especially the lace overlay.

I need to go do other things right now, and I'm pretty sure the time on my parking meter has expired. Perhaps I'll post again soon, maybe with photos of the sample practice dress.

This Thursday thing seems to be a trend [Now with updates!!]

If I'm only posting once a week, Thursday seems like as good a day as any to do so.

Happy Thanksgiving. No, wait, it's Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day, a day in which I give thanks for my most wonderful husband.

...And, incidentally, my son Twitch's birthday. Happy Birthday, Twitch! He's living at home now, again, looking for work. Today he turns 22. I just talked to him. The gay boys were up late last night "tripping on something" and evidently being pretty noisy about it. I didn't hear a thing, but that's not unusual. I'm at the other end of the house with my CPAP making soothing white noise in my nose all night. But they woke up Twitch, and now he's in a snit. He went back to sleep and only woke up again at 9:30. He is currently drinking some coffee. I told him to take a shower. Hopefully he'll feel better after he eats.

I have yet to get his birthday gifts. He wants wool socks and some fine whiskey. Was chatting with Victor last night who said he got wool socks for his husband at Kmart, so I should look there. And I will, but I reminded Victor that there's a big difference in what items the big box stores stock depending on their location. He is in Vermont, I'm in South Carolina. My chance of finding wool socks in the Kmart here is significantly lower than if I were in Vermont. Did you know that there are no snow shovels at either Kmart or Walmart in this town? At least I don't think there are. Have never seen any. Actually, until Light moved to Pennsylvania, I don't think I'd ever seen a snow shovel. Didn't know what they look like. I saw one when I visited her last year.

That paragraph went all over the place, didn't it?

We're struggling with Diva again/still. She needs to go someplace else. I cleaned out my old dresser (we're rearranging our bedroom, sort of) and found a list of possible placements for the girl. I'll look those up online today, see if anything seems suitable. She's sort of falling between the cracks here. She's too extreme for the group home-type places that are what they call "low management" but not quite crazy enough for the "high management" treatment centers. We haven't found anything in between yet. Still looking.

Recently I've fallen into the trap of taking a morning nap sometime between 9 and noon. It's 10:15 now, and I feel so sleepy! But I'm resisting. The longer I sit here, though, the harder it is to resist. I need to either get up and DO something or go on to sleep. Think I'll do something, like go buy booze and socks. Also, I need to bake a lemon meringue pie for the birthday boy. So I'm off to do those things now. Ta ta!

UPDATE: I ended up not even looking for the wool socks. I might look tomorrow, or order some online or something. Twitch will be happy to get them even if they're late. I did, however, find some booze. I got him a bottle of Bushmills. That stuff is not cheap! I hope he enjoys and appreciates it.

I made two pies, one lemon meringue and one chocolate cream. Maybe I'll take pictures.

And I did not have a nap! Though right now I'm feelin' the need. The casserole that Twitch requested is in the oven now. Superman made it last night at Sproing's request, and it was so well received that Twitch wanted it again tonight. It's a simple salmagundi of rice, canned chicken meat, a few frozen peas, and assorted cheeses. I think. Superman invented it based on stuff Sproing likes. After supper I'll give Twitch his gift (I even wrapped it nice and all) and we'll attack the pies.