New character enters

I've written about this in two letters this morning. It's no secret, so it's time to officially let the cat out of the bag about my older son's phone call Sunday night.

My wife and I were watching a movie ("Ran") downstairs that night when he called. After some preliminaries, he got down to what's on his mind: Would it be OK if he visits us over Memorial Day weekend? And, by the way, he plans to take a girl along.

[Side note: I'll use the term "girl" because she is a generation younger than me. In point of fact, she is a mature, fully grown woman, and I'm very aware of that. So just don't get hung up about "girl," OK?]

My son moved into a new apartment in the Detroit metro area about two or three months ago, and he met this girl shortly afterward. It all started quite unexpectedly: He was going to meet some friends at a comedy club near his new place, and the girl came along with the friends. After all his attempts to find a GF via dating websites, including several pay sites and a few false leads that went nowhere, this is how it happened. Surprised?

Since then, they have been hanging out together and going out regularly and spending time together. As far as I can remember, she works in a mail room for a downtown law firm. (He told me, but the details are a bit fuzzy.)

Anyway, it's about time. He is 33 now and has been looking. But he is shy by nature, and that hasn't helped the search.

During his visit, he said, he wants to visit my mom at the nursing home and introduce the girl. For years, my mom has been hoping that he would find a nice girl he could be happy with. If she can understand what's going on, the news will make her very happy indeed.

(Preceding part transformed into a real blog post on 4/20/10)

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I had to do some fast tap-dancing this afternoon for S. Because of her situation (estranged from her husband because of her new girlfriend and seeking an apartment), I sent her a check about a week and a half ago. But I found out today that she never got it.

Maybe it was too complicated. I had to make the check out to a woman I had never heard of and mail it to S's new girlfriend (the name on the envelope) at S's home address. It apparently never arrived--the bank says the check has not been cashed.

After finding that out today, I made out another check--this time to her GF--and mailed it to the GF at the home address. Then I took the envelope to the post office and sent it out Priority Mail. The clerk at the post office says it should arrive tomorrow.

I'm a little dubious about "tomorrow," but it should get there in a day or two. After getting back to the office, I e-mailed S and texted the GF to tell them that it's on the way ... again. So watch for it. OK?