12/2/2021

Today I made a point of reaching out to two people. One being Profesor, an elderly title searcher in Ocean County who helped me out when I started this endeavor. The other is a big guy, heavier than me, who is a title searcher. While I was marking up deeds, I heard him huffing and puffing and I asked how he was doing. His wife's friend suddenly died in front of him, and his wife lost her job, plus his arm was still hurting after surgery a month or so ago. On my way out, I caught him chatting with the woman who sits in front of the deed room and told him if he ever needs to talk my door's always open.

My next stop was the house to speak with Leah. She waived December's cat support, so knock me over with a feather. Also I told her I am interested in finding out what credits I need to graduate from college in any way. When I left my second college I had 136 credits but didn't graduate. Gotta request my transcript from there. Since Leah works for this online university, I'll be able to attend for free after she's been there for five years which means delaying the whole divorce situation. It's a magnaminous gesture from her.

Yet two things troubled me when I left. First off some guy was assembling her shelves, his white Humvee was parked out front rather than on the side. Typically visitors park on the side. She spoke to me like I should be acquainted with him, but I didn't know him from Adam. I declined his handshake and gave a fist bump with the understanding I'm careful about COVID. I didn't say anything. What made it even stranger for me is that Leah just introduced me by name which gave me the impression if she said I was still her husbands or soon-to-be former husband would queer things between her and the laborer.
While I was talking about the potential for completing college, she said she'd look in her email because a professor from my college sent her transcripts except they weren't official ones. I suggested, "Why don't you look for emails from me?" to which she responded, "Oh I save all the emails from this professor." So she deletes my emails?

This was a quick visit, only twenty minutes, and the cats appear to be fine. Leah said Kira just went outside so I missed her. Yet I was already getting overwhelmed being there. Once my car began rolling, I phoned my sister who told me that my biological father left a card for me. I asked if she would open it and let me know if there's anything else in there, but she left it in the car. Made a point of saying I'm not interested in any messages, just if there's money because that'd help me decide about hitting up my friend Tim for a visit. The weird, sad feeling from the previous paragraph became overwhelming and I rattled off a litany of my accomplishments over the past year. My sister listened and affirmed there's a lot going for me.

Later on, she texted me there's a note and $300 in the card. Now I gotta see if Tim is down. It'll be nice to get a change of scenery. Even if a trip isn't in the cards then I'm going to still take off a couple of days since my birthday falls on a Sunday.

I still feel that melancholy.

In better news, my right foot is feeling better. Not great, just better. I walk best wearing shoes than in my stocking feet.