Work definitely wasn't any better on Saturday night... I held out hope but the bar was stocked and ready to go well over an hour and a half before closing. I sat down at the bar in a stool, played on my phone, and hung around until Mike showed up about a quarter after 1am. He drove down in his car to pick me up and we drove to my parents' house because we brought laundry and Georgia with us. I left my car at work overnight.
We were coming into town a little after 2am and all of a sudden Mike asks "Did you just see what I saw?!" I had no clue what he was talking about so we turned around really quickly and looked again... It was a big ol' cow.. a big cow, standing directly on the side of the 4 lane highway... just chewing some grass. Our lights spooked it a bit and it ran down the hill a little. Hohenwald is a tiny tiny rural town, so this WOULD seem normal... except that part of "town" isn't really near any farms. So I called it into 911 (couldn't get my iPhone to process the police #) and told the dispatch that there was a loose cow that looked like it wanted to dodge some traffic. Then I said "Well I'm only calling it in because I'm assuming someone will probably report it missing". The dispatch (who was audibly an older gentleman) exclaimed "I WISH someone would report that thing! It's been evading me for four weeks now! I'll get a call, send someone out there, then the dang thing will just run off! It's bigfoot! You just saw bigfoot!" At this point I'm cracking up, about to pee my pants, and just trying to stay with the dispatch. He was such a friendly fellow, and that conversation pretty much made my week. My parents got a kick out of it Sunday morning, too.
Anywhoo, after sleeping and waking up early (9am-ish?!), mom made breakfast and we ate. After that, I spent some time getting ready and we went to Walmart to grab a couple Easter cards for family. Here's the floppy hat I bought the other day (I didn't wear it yesterday), but the photo below was what I wore for Easter (new dress... but it's a halter top and I'm not crazy about it. I'm thinking it's too poofy).
And a photo of Georgia after running around outside for a while. She was exhausted and hot.
After the Walmart trip, on the way home, I happened to see someone I knew... someone I haven't seen or spoken to in a few years... my father. If you've never seen me post anything really emotional or honest, here's your chance. I recognized him immediately and I couldn't help but start bawling uncontrollably. Mike pulled over to talk to me and stuff, but I just wiped my face, said I wanted to go home, and that was that. Well, until my Mom saw my face. She could tell I was upset about something and I told her. She asked "Did you talk to him?" I said no. She said "Well you're about to" and she walked into her room, called him, and handed me the phone. I was literally running down the hallway opposite of her crying "No, I don't want to! I don't want to!" but alas, she handed the phone off and I spoke. He could tell I was crying but I lied. Regular small talk like work and weather... things you'd talk to your old neighbor about if you hadn't seen one another in a few years. He didn't know what I was going to college for, He didn't know that I graduate in December, blah blah blah. A man... A FATHER... who sees his daughter's name and handwriting EVERY Sunday at work... yet never thinks about calling to check up on her or to say Happy Birthday. This has been going on my entire life. 22 years. A vicious cycle where we'll talk and visit each other for a few months, then we'll fight about something and not speak for years. He says it's because we both have tempers... I say "I got it honestly". Instead of spending time with me, he'd buy me things, take me to the mall, sit me in front of a new flat screen computer, etc. All I wanted was him to take an interest in a volleyball game or a softball scrimmage. Come see me go to Prom or maybe lunch in Franklin. People say I'm lucky to even know who my father is in this day and age... but how easy do you think it is to be 100% sure your father KNOWS of your existence, yet he blatantly avoids you and wants nothing to do with it? We have a house on the Tennessee River with lots of boats and 4wheeelrs and fun stuff. He said he'd like for Mike and I to come down in 4 weeks when I get out of school for the summer. We'll see.... Anyway, whatever.
We ventured out to my Nana's house with part of my extended family. We had a nice lunch (though Mike and I could barely eat anything... My family thinks meat should go in EVERYTHING! And few people were aware of the fact that we don't eat meat.... even though I went vegetarian when I was thirteen haha), good conversation, I met my cousin's new baby (she's adorable!), and we shot some more pictures with our throw away cameras (post soon!).
After a while we gathered our things, said our goodbyes, and headed back to Franklin. Well, Mike drove me to get my car in Columbia. I passed out the whole way. As we were pulling out of work, low-and-behold, guess who is pulling in to do Sunday inventory? My father. As if yesterday couldn't have gotten any more awkward. It was casual small talk once more. The first time he's seen me in years. Red hair. Tattoos. It's all new to him. We drove back home and dropped off some film. I tried getting into school to do some work but it was locked so I came home and worked on it. Mike and I brainstormed my book idea once more and came up with something better. (Thank you if you submitted stuff! I'll still try to use it!) We made dinner and tried watching Dexter but the website was shoddy. We caught up on Community and Modern Family before hitting the hay.
I've been up for an our already (early to rise at 8:30am) and I'm about to wake up Mike. We've got things to do!
I'm headed to Nashville tomorrow to go approve the sketch for my calf tattoo on Wednesday. This week is going to be so incredibly hectic. The book/super comp is due on Wednesday, and a million page paper is due on Friday. Just let me get through this week!
I have to pay my NYC rent this week too.... $4600 for 2.5 months. GEEEEZE!
Happy New Week!
xo
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