2000-11-06 | 04:45:32

it was a bizarre weekend. spending time in a perfectly packaged retirement community when you are a few decades away from considering one for yourself is quite, shall we say, trippy.

my parents are considering one. they're thinking maybe they'd like a nice little house in a super-safe neighborhood with other people their age and tons of activities, not to mention warmer, joint-friendly weather (i mean bones, not blunts, silly). my mom turned their "let's visit and check it out" trip into a family weekend.

classic moments: my mom telling my sister and i how easily she could get to the local sav-on from the retirement community: "girls, i could take a golf cart on a back road and bring all my sav-on stuff back home in the back basket. wouldn't that be great?" and my dad (tongue-in-cheek): "i think we should stay an extra day to get the free flu shots."

it's amazing to see the change in my parents. it's gradual. they're still mostly young-acting, but the way they got lost trying to avoid getting on the freeway and the way they struggled with the map made me realize their oncoming fraility is approaching faster than i thought. a ponderous proposition.

there is an old emo phillips routine. he describes his dad telling him, "son, one day i'll pass on and you'll have to take care of your mother." emo responds, "dad, don't talk like that...i don't want to take care of her."

heh.

i take guilty pleasure in that joke, because that's the way my selfish, lazy side dreads that eventual, tough step up to responsibility. returning the favor they gave me in raising me. of course, i'll be there for them. the only problem is, i don't have someone there for me...hmmm...i better birth me a caretaker soon.

on a lighter note, a bonus to the trip was that the retirement digs were in the general vicinity of the home of one of my e-buddies, esol, so we got to meet and hang out for a bit this weekend.

now, esol is the epitome of positive energy. he calls some of his friends forces of nature, but i think he defines the term better than anyone. he is a sun--radiating all kinds of good stuff. he showed me some night spots and we had a good old time.

and may i say once again how freakin' cool the internet is? i know, duh. but seriously, the things this diaryland page has opened up in my life are quite astounding. first off, a chance for personal expression. secondly, getting to share other people's amazing writing (see list at left for some choice examples). thirdly, cool pen pals. fourthly, (is fourthly a word?) meeting cool pen pals. it amazes me that my path has now crossed with several incredible people who i never would have met otherwise. god bless the internet!

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today over at girlboy, laura has an old tv show theme song in her head and a delightfully unique kind of boy on her mind...

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