So, it's a beautiful Friday afternoon, the kind of warm Carolina day that anticipates Spring as surely as the buds on the trees. And, like every Friday afternoon for the past couple of years, when we're both at work, I went to the bank to pick up Lisa for our once-a-week lunch out. As I drove over, window down, I was listening to one of my current favorite CDs, Lady Antebellum's Need You Now. There seemed to be no need to take a cue from the title song's tale of both halves of broken relationship trying to reach out in a futile grasp for what can't be held onto.
Unlike most Friday afternoons, Lisa was stuck at the bank, waiting on customers. We both knew there was no way she'd be able to get out and join me for what is a high point of the work week for us both.
I tooled over to Zaxby's, got her the Kickin' Chicken sandwich meal and large Diet Coke she likes, dropped it back with her at the bank, and then went to Chick-Fil-A, where I proceeded to drown my sorrows in a #1 meal with a large Coke Zero. I'm sure I looked like a real Sad Sack geek, eating my chicken sandwich and fries with my phone in my hand. I mean, who could know that I was reading Moby Dick while I was there missing my wife?
Yes, I could have turned the rest of my day into It-Sucks-To-Be-Eddie-Friday, but why? It's still a beautiful afternoon, Lady Antebellum still sounds as sweet -- Hello World is a wonderful song for when you're feeling a little blue -- I'm going to see Lisa at home this evening, and we're going to have another turn at one of the rituals of our marriage next Friday afternoon. All in all, it's not so bad being me.
