Madison

Today was a first for me. I went into work on my day off and it was my decision. With Nick being gone for the week, I know that I am going to be busy and I wanted to minimize some of the workload. He usually handles more of the administrative stuff while I do more of the detail work in our department. With him gone that means that I have to field all of the questions that he normally gets and still do what I usually do. So I gave work four and half hours of my time this afternoon. I really impressed myself by staying focused and getting ahead for the week.

I did take a short break to eat and read while I was there, but who cares. Its Sunday. My copy of Return to Earth was at my desk and reading it was a nice relief from the entry that I had to do for the week. The book itself is easy reading for me. I'm not saying that it isn't good, it just flows for me. Non-fiction always does in my opinion. Aldrin had a nervous breakdown and you can feel the book building up to it.

I spoke with Beth this evening. She wanted to know what Brenda and I were doing this weekend. I told her that as far as I know we are going to visit Brenda's sister and brother-in-law this weekend. Beth and Dan haven't gotten together with us since they stopped by weeks ago.

It will be official this Wednesday. Brenda will be legally divorced and I know that she wants to celebrate. Her aunt and a friend from work is going with her to the courthouse. As to what role I play in this event, I do not know. All that I know is that Brenda took vacation for the rest of the week after Tuesday.

Actually I'm not really sure how to react. I mean, I never met her husband and everything that I hear about him is from her perspective and not surprisingly most of it is negative. Its her past and I had nothing to do with it. True, I might feel some backlash from what happened, but there really isn't that much that I can do about it.

I actually met and spoke with Tracy's ex-husband. Yes, it wasn't always very pleasant, but at least he was a human being not just this abstract person that I hear mentioned every once in a while. Then one could argue that sometimes there are things that I really shouldn't want to know. I certainly am not going to seek out her ex-husband and get his perspective on the marriage. Hearing Tracy's husband's version of the marriage was very enlightening though. Of course there are so many sides to a story and each person believes that they are telling the truth, whatever that might be. Its messy no matter how a person looks at it.

Last night Brenda dropped another surprise on me. Work wants to relocate her to Madison and naturally she wants me to go with her. She has not accepted yet and I really haven't given a response either. This was not something that I anticipated.

I have a very low opinion of Madison and I am always surprised when it makes the top ten list of places to live in the United States. I think that Madison has more drugs and crime than Milwaukee. Whoa, I need to back up and explain why I feel this way about Madison.

Madison makes me think of high school and the years directly after high school, because the majority of my high school friends went to college in Madison. Every time that I would visit them there it was one big drug filled weekend. They were away from home and they were pushing the limit on everything. They lived to party and they paid the price for it.

I think that two of the Madison group did finally graduate. Neither of them made it in four years, but they did make it. One member of the group attempted suicide and failed. The final member of the group and the one that I knew the best stopped talking to me a few years ago. Madison represents waste to me and I would really prefer not to live there.

I remember one time when Dave asked me if I was ashamed of them. He had been drinking heavily and could probably tell that I was getting irritated. I said no. It just hurt me that they pissed so much of their lives away. Dave was one of the two that finally made it out. It took him nearly eight years, but he did it. I think that he is in London now with his wife, because she is finishing up her masters degree. I told Dave that I was proud of him before he left and I am hoping that I'll see him at the reunion.

Of course none of this is fair to Brenda, but Madison is not for me.

 

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