First Reactions

This was supposed to be a productive paper-writing weekend. I have 30 pages due by the end of Thanksgiving break and I wanted to be able to enjoy the time with my family, so I planned on getting the bulk of the paper done this weekend.

Um, I got exactly ZERO pages written. Mmm Hmmm. Didn't even start the research. Didn't crack a book.

Jedi spent every single day at my place this weekend-- and not only didn't I mind, I wanted him there. Weird, I know.

I don't know if I can explain to you how sweet he is... (Though, I think it was Npapaya who said to me, "His behaviour isn't unusual... it's just unusual to YOU.) I don't know if that's true or not. I do know that I've never asked him to change the litter box (and my pet HATES him with a passion. Poor Jedi!)... he just does it before I wake up in the mornings. He grabs the garbage when he's on the way out the door. He is sick today, but he (rather ridiculously) got up to do the dishes before I realized what he was up to. ... all this, and more, and he tells me constantly how wonderful he thinks I am.

But, it was a little incident on Saturday that truly made me appreciate him.

We ended up at his parents' house for dinner. It wasn't planned, but we were picking up a pizza before a movie, and his house is closest to the movie theater. Additionally, his 15 year old sister wanted to see the movie as well, so we offered to bring her and a friend, and his parents asked us to pick up pizza for them as well.

Dinner went well. It wasn't the first time I'd met his parents, but it was the first time we'd really sat down and had a conversation. I do like his parents a lot actually, and his sister is very nice too.

After the movie we dropped the girls off. I'd left my car at the house and we'd only taken one care to the theater.

Well, it was dark, and the street is poorly lit. I started making my way down the driveway... not realizing that on either side of the driveway is a retaining wall (about 2-3 feet high.) I backed down the driveway a little off-kilter..... and ended up going half-way over the retaining wall and getting my car stuck. In fact, it was teetering.

EEEEK!

I was SO embarrassed! His parents were already in their pjs and came out to see what had happened. Thank goodness I have AAA... this is the 3rd time this year I've had to get towed! (Um.... yeah... perhaps best not to mention that!)

All's well that ends well though... Doesn't seem to be any damage to my car (or to their wall!) The tow truck came within 20 minutes.

I later recounted this story to my mom, and she had one question-- "How did Jedi react?"

And that IS the important question.

Perhaps to some people it wouldn't be an issue of concern... but perhaps most people haven't had my experiences with angry, volatile, controlling men. (None that I've dated-- all in my family. Which is the reason I'm so careful when I'm dating.)

When he heard my car go over the edge (great big CREAKING sound), Jedi jumped out of his car and ran to me. The first words out of his mouth were, "Are you ok??!?" Interestingly enough, those were also the first words out of his parents' mouths. Also, his mother seemed to take the blame by adding, "This driveway is so poorly marked! Tomorrow we're going to home depot to get this fixed! We'll put reflectors along the side... get the wall filled in some more... etc."

My mom was taken aback by that reaction. So was I.

The "normal" (at least, MY normal in growing up,) reaction? "What the hell were you thinking? How could you have been so stupid? Why didn't you turn around at the top of the driveway? Do you know how much money this is going to cost to fix the wall/car/driveway etc. This is why women shouldn't drive..." And then, I could certainly expect to have this story trotted out on every other occasion my dad/grandpa/uncles/mom's boyfriends would be displeased as evidence of my general idiocy and irresponsibility.

I thanked Jedi for not screaming at me when that happened. He was genuinely bewildered. "Who would do something like that?"

Indeed. Who would do something like that...


Again, as Npapaya pointed out, "His behaviour isn't unusual... it's just unusual to YOU."