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03.24.98     [Pre.S. -- Okay.  I stopped feeling sorry for myself this passed week.  Thanx for all the mailnotes – you guys are great.  Yes, it is time for me to get rolling in the right direction, and hopefully, things will pan out. I’ll follow up in the near future.]

Last Tuesday, my boss asked me to go out and pay a visit to our sister team located in El Segundo; Los Angeles.  The visit should come about the following week (this week).  It has always been a pleasure to visit out there.  I especially enjoy visiting Gold’s Gym, the Mecca of Bodybuilding, out there at Venice Beach.  All is well, except for the fact now that Liz will be stuck at home…alone.

I felt really sorry for her.  The poor girl has not even been here a month yet, and already, I am abandoning her.  Okay, so maybe I am exaggerating it a bit.  But, nonetheless, I can understand that it can get a little lonely around here.  She has not been here that long and has only met a few people so far, but none that she feels that close to.  I wondered for a few days how to remedy, or at least, assist in the situation.  A friend named Jose said that he would ask his fiancé, Carolina, to call.  They met briefly and seemed friendly toward each other.  Actually, it was kinda neat: They are both shy people at first, so it was rather quiet, but nonetheless, friendly.

     Finally, I broke the news to Liz, “Hey, I have something I need to tell you.”
     “Yes?”
     “I have to go to El Segundo…er, Los Angeles for a few days.  Its for work.  They need me out there to do some stuff.”
     I was expecting a response, but it grew quiet for a few seconds.  “What sort of stuff do you need to do out there?”
     “The test lab for the project is out there.  They need some support.  Its only from Tuesday ‘till Friday.”
     “When on Tuesday?”
     “The flight leaves around five PM.”
     “And what time on Friday?”
     “The flight arrives around midnight.”  It was at this point where I could notice a slight nervousness in her reaction, but a purposeful calm understanding the situation that I was not taking a leisurely vacation trip to California without her, “Is there anything I can do for you?  I mean, I know that you’ll be alone here for a little bit.”
     “Oh.  Don’t worry about me.  I’ll be okay.”
     From the tone in her voice, that last remark sounded more of a self-assurance plea, “Are you sure?”
     “Of course I’m sure.”
     “Okay, last chance…”
     “Um,” she interjected, “could you ask your parents to come up?”
     “My parents?”
     “Yes -- your parents.  It would be nice to see them again.”

I was a little shocked that she wanted my parents to come up to visit, but it was a nice gesture.  She had met my parents a couple of times already, and they have hit it off quite well.  Happy as this may seem, it still seems kind of awkward, seeing how this goes against any paradigm of intimate partners and In-laws.  It just felt a little weird that my parents would be up here visiting without me being present.  The odds of that happening were just next to nil.

<They arrived on Friday>

In rolled mom and dad on Friday.  I called home to let Liz know that I was coming home from work and she stated happily that they had arrived.  The telephone got passed around from Liz, to my dad, to my mom, and back to Liz.

     “…See you in a about twenty minutes hun,” she said smiling.  I think she let out a slight giggle before hanging up the phone.

[I apologize for the shortness of this week's entry.  I was headed somewhere with this entry, but along the way, I lost the message.  Just for informative purposes, it had something to do with the commonalities between close friends and parents.]

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