Family stuff

Finally, a weekend off…sort of. I had taken Sunday off from the credit union and only worked from 8 to 11 Saturday morning thinking I could take the rest of the weekend to relax a little, maybe spend some time on the lakeside enjoying what was possibly the last nice warm day until June, and hang out with Heather. That got interrupted when I found out my mom was having a pretty bad day Saturday, and I ended up leaving after lunch to spend the night at home with my family.

I felt really bad bailing on Heather, especially since I gave no real explanation as to what I was doing. “Family stuff” is what I told her, which is the most generic explanation. I hope she didn’t take it to mean “I’m seeing other people.” I want to tell her what’s really going on, but it’s a hard thing to bring up. Everyone I’ve told so far has done the pity thing – “Oh, I’m so sorry” – which I find to be unnecessary; it is what it is. I mean, it’s cancer, and it sucks, but unless you gave my mom cancer, there’s no need to apologize. I know people are just being polite, but I would almost rather they say nothing at all.

I know Heather will be understanding and compassionate and will say all the right things just because that’s who she is, but I’m not sure I want to drag her into it. She isn’t even officially my girlfriend, and I don’t want her to feel like I’m dumping too much emotional baggage on her too soon.

Maybe I’ll tell her, maybe I won’t. But I know I have to say something more than just “family stuff” if I want her to stick around at all.

This week should be hectic at the radio station. There’s a new afternoon DJ (a.k.a. someone new to harass me) starting, and a contest going on where they’re giving away ten coupons every hour between 8 and 5 all week long for a free meal for two at the new sub shop in town. I’m hoping to steal a couple of the coupons for myself, especially after Heather and I ate there on Saturday and I found out that it’s delicious. Since I don’t get paid, I think it’s the least they can do. Since I’m the one actually ID’ing the winners and handing coupons out when people come to pick them up, it should be easy enough to snag a couple.

So, I’m sure I’ll be glad when this week is over, as usual. I’m hoping to make up for this weekend’s abandonment of Heather by taking her to the Architecture in Helsinki show on Sunday night. We’re both pretty obsessed with them at the moment, and Heather seemed excited when I brought it up. Maybe I’ll have figured out how to tell her about my “family stuff” by then.