Driving with Charlie…

“Woah!” Charlie said laughing as we narrowly missed a car in downtown West Point, Georgia yesterday afternoon.  Charlie jerked the car back into his lane.  Charlie was talking a mile a minute about a myriad of things and not paying attention to his driving.  He was fretting over how his hairspray just wasn’t holding his hair like it used to. Charlie is also bald for irony.  We were on the way to fix Charlie’s wife’s computer.  She couldn’t get Shockwave Flash to install and wanted to look at some videos someone had emailed her.  Charlie is such a flighty and nervous driver.  I held on to the “oh shit!” bar for my life as the cup of fruit juice in my hand sloshed around violently. 

We arrived at Charlie’s house.  He brought me two diet Cokes and I swooned at them as I sat down at Janice’s computer.  It took me literally seconds to install Shockwave as I drank my Cokes.  I don’t know what problems she was having, but I didn’t have any.  Shockwave installed flawlessly.  I couldn’t believe how slow her computer had gotten since I last used it, though.  It was a tediously slow little contraption to navigate.  People junk up their computers so easily with lots of crap that slows them down.  It is an eMachine after all as well.  Not your most illustrious computer -- a Wal-Mart purchase on a whim when Janice’s last computer went to the great computer heaven in the sky – her power supply giving out and I couldn’t fix it. 

“Come on,” Charlie said as I sat in the den watching TV with his wife. I was finishing my last diet Coke as a Lifetime television show starring Chevy Chase and the late Farrah Fawcett played on the television.  “Let’s go get you some supper.  I am bringing you a roast beef supper tomorrow night as well.”  Janice was cooking a roast in the oven and it smelled heavenly.  My stomach grumbled at the prospect.

We headed down through the Valley to Arby’s so I could get the number 19 special that Charlie has gotten me hooked on – a turkey sandwich with Italian dressing as a garnish, diet Coke, and curly fries.  Charlie dropped me off at my house and I hungrily ate my food -- gingerly giving Maggie bites of curly fries as she sat at my feet begging.  I was starving.  I savored the big cup of diet Coke as well as I sat at my computer watching Twitter busily tweet through Twhirl – interested in all the New Zealanders tweeting about the All Whites. Their soccer team.   

I then drove over to dad’s to wish him happy father’s day and give him the card I had gotten for him.  He was so glad to see me for a change – in very high spirits. 

“Thank you!” he said happily as I told him happy father’s day walking through the back door handing him the card. 

We took my medications and sat in the den talking for 30 minutes waiting for them to take effect.  I savored this time with my father with him in such a good mood.  Dad was doing what dad does on a day off -- in his pajamas reading books on the Royal Family as the sprinkler system spewed copious amounts of water in the back yard.

On the mental illness front, I am doing okay.  I had one period yesterday where I had to walk very vigorously for an hour and a half.   I had to walk off some anxiety I was experiencing.  I was overjoyed at getting my medications so early yesterday.  They made me feel so much better.  I was in the bed at 7pm after taking my 2mg of Klonopin, though.  Very early for me.  Maggie got on the bed and we settled in for the night as I ate a can of Chef Boyardee mini ravioli and turned the thermostat down to 76 as the TV droned in my bedroom.

What are you doing now?  It is 4am.  I have the heat on in the middle of summer set to 81 – waking up cold.  I just drove over to mom and dad’s and got my six diet Cokes for the day as I listened to Jazz music during the drive.  The Cokes are in the freezer getting cold.  Maggie is outside barking up a storm as she often does to pave the way for my trip and back.  I am listening to Coast to Coast AM and not quite sure what they are talking about since I am so intent on writing this post.  I feel really good right now and it is intoxicating.  I know I use that word to describe my feel good moments a lot, but it is the best word to describe how I feel.  Mornings are always mental bliss on the mental illness front.