Odds and Ends



Although not a religious person per say, I would like to pay my respects to Pope John Paul II. I may not have agreed with his conservative religious views, he truly was a great humanitarian who worked hard to try and bring some peace into this crazy world and to end the suffering of many underprivileged people around the globe. I hope he has gone to a better place. At the very least, I hope he is no longer suffering like he was in his final hours.

While we are on the subject of the Pope...

I had a dream last night that the Pope was my Grandpapa. It's true. He was my Dad's dad and we went to the Vatican to see him lying in state... except the Vatican was not the "Vatican" that we all know... it was actually this dodgy nursing home on Saltspring Island called Greenwoods. Anyway, in the dream we never made it past the parking lot. Sufficed to say, parking was at a premium on this particular day... but I remembered thinking that it was very cool that my Grandfather was the Pope, or "Papa John" as I called him. No relation to the pizza chain I don't think...

I also remember thinking that I hadn't really milked that relationship for all it was worth. I mean, being the granddaughter of His Holiness should have been good for something. At the very least it should have scored me a few more popularity points in high school. I never did receive any birthday or Christmas gifts. He wasn't a very good Grandfather. I vowed from that day on to let it be known to the world that I indeed, was John Paul the Great's favorite (I could have been) grandchild!

OK, I know that this dream is flawed on many, many levels... Too many to actually even go into, so I'll just leave it at that... and head to the other slightly more realistic happenings in Bea's life.

So, big apologies for underestimating "funny email guy" from Friday night. He did call. He called the very next night. Unfortunately I was unable to take the call as I just so happened to be out with my Irishman and some of his friends. A grand old evening of hanging out with half a dozen crazy Irish ex-pats. A night of stories from the old country such as: Grandma getting a sample of maxi pads with wings in the mail and mistaking them for insoles and putting them in her shoes and walking around town with the wings hanging out of her shoes all proud of her new insoles... things of that nature. Of course writing it here doesn't do it justice... much funnier told by a native Belfastian. A really, really fun night.

And so here I am on Monday morning, still a wee bit knocked out by the time change... contemplating what I should do. I really like my Irishman, but I'm not sure if I want to date him. No, it has nothing to do with "funny email guy" as I doubt that is going to go anywhere... it's just that to date someone just because they are Irish seems like the wrong reason. It is also wrong to date someone because you like their friends and want to hear more stories from the old country. Also, when you are my age and decide that dating a 25 year old is OK and not completely cougarish... it should at least come with some "benefits". Benefits that only a 25 year old should be able to provide you with. Sadly, the "benefits" in this case are somewhat unreliable... very frustrating for the old girl... if ya know what I mean... wink.

How do you keep someone in your life who really, really likes you, but who you no longer see a future in a romantic relationship with, but still really want to hang out with? I have some ideas, but am open to suggestions. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Off to see a chick flick after work tonight... perhaps some ideas there. Fingers crossed.

Mwa