Hi. Don’t mind me. I’m kind of freaking out. But our good friend, ID Collection’s Jim Williamson, will make everything better with his weekly take on things. Aside from Friday, guess what today is? It is my one-year LTT anniversary. (That’s “living together together” instead of LTA, “living together apart.” FYI: LTA has a different meaning in the urban dictionary.)
To be honest, I wasn’t sure I could do this thing as I had been single for a couple of years before our merge. When you’re single and past your 20s, you get pretty set in your ways. After years of doing what I wanted—or not doing anything I didn’t want to do—it was different having to now consider someone else’s wants and needs. My mother will attest that my first word was, “No.” So it was an adjustment.
But things are good. I think we have finally settled in, and I don’t have to stress and worry like I normally do about every situation. (Just every other situation.) We have definitely had a few ups and downs, or as my favorite line from All about Eve goes: “Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”
This reminds me of a story. (Hang in there. I swear, it all ties together.)
Once, probably in the 1990s, a group of friends and I came across a tarot card reader while walking through a street fair. Now I don’t believe you can see the future via a deck of cards. I do believe you can predict the future by studying the past, but I had no belief that the cards would tell me anything other than I just lost $20. But we were all having fun, so I decided to give it ago. So here I am in the tent with this woman, and it was very much like any B-movie you have seen, although she wasn’t wearing veils or lots of gold chains with coins on them. She looked like a regular old lady—one in need of a good moisturizer—and there was nothing strange about her. I told her nothing about myself. I wore no watch, no ring, and no designer shoes. There was nothing that could really give her clues about my life, other than my well-maintained hair. I shuffled the cards and thought about what I wanted the cards to reveal. The reader gathered the cards and laid them out.
Basically the gist was this: “You will travel to many places in life. You will travel near and far. You are a wanderer. Your life will always be like a roller coaster. Sometimes you will feel like you have no idea where your life is going, no matter how much you have planned and worked. This is your fate, but it isn’t a bad one. Enjoy the ride, even the scary parts. You will learn much. “
I wasn’t displeased. Sure, it sounded a bit like a slip of paper in a fortune cookie, but I was fine with it. And then as I was about to leave, she said, “I have one more thing to tell you. Your friends are not your friends.” Then, she ushered me out, and the next person took my spot. I thought about it for a second, but then it left my mind as we continued on our way, having fun at the fair.
I forgot about all that for a long time. Then last year, as I was on the roof deck unwinding and getting used to my new surroundings, something triggered it. I’m not friends with those people anymore. In fact, those friendships ended a few months after that reading. One of my “friends,” whom I was actually dating, was having an affair with another onf of those “friends.” One was just a mess. The other friendships were lost to petty disagreements and silly jealousies. And my life has been like a roller coaster taking me up and down. Over and over again.
As for the question I asked the cards to reveal that fateful day? I asked if the person I was dating was being honest? Now we all know how that turned out.
So there you have it. One year in, and all is good and as it should be. It was predicted years ago. My life would be like a roller coaster. And so it is. Luckily, the car of a roller coaster seats two. Cheers to Friday and my LTT anniversary. Let the good times roll!
