An Odd Birthday

Dearest Rachel –

This isn’t my story, exactly; but since my perspective is the only one I have, that’s the only one I can relate to you. It’s not as if he would put the events of yesterday in writing so as to remember, so the duty falls to me, regardless. Besides, there were a few unusual things that happened apart from the obvious that I might as well tell you about.

But I suppose I should start with the obvious, as it’s a confluence that you dealt with in your time, whenever your birthday fell on a Sunday. You always complained how much you disliked it when it was overshadowed by Mothers’ Day; so, too, does Daniel have to deal with Fathers’ Day in a similar fashion. Add to that the fact that both of us were being greeting with sympathetic remarks (certainly, they were more common than any inquiries as to the cause of our absence over the prior three weeks) and the day was proving to be an odd birthday indeed, to say the least.

Moreover, for all that it was the solstice, when the sun would be up for the most time in any day of the year, there was precious little sun throughout the day. It’s as if we got extra sunlight on that day in Sitka after his passing, and it’s been extracted from our time here at home – although in fairness, if we get as much sunshine for the funeral as we did last Thursday, it will be a reasonable bargain. Then again, I might just wear a black turtleneck along with Daniel tomorrow, so I might actually prefer some cloud cover after all. Just no rain, is all I ask.

There had been discussion in our group chat about getting together for Daniel’s birthday this weekend, but as usual, herding the six cats proved at first difficult, and then ultimately impossible. Oddly enough, the final straw (I would say the “nail in the coffin,” but that feels too on-the-nose at the moment) proved to be Logan, of all people, since he would – understandably – be meeting up with his own parents to celebrate Fathers’ Day, and would be unable to join us on Sunday. Now to be fair, he wasn’t the only one with weekend commitments; Ellen was volunteering on Saturday night at the shelter, and I believe Erin had work on both Friday and Saturday; but these didn’t have the same deal-breaking vibe, since they weren’t exactly on his birthday.

I probably should have spoken up at this point and suggested that at least the five of us could still get together after church, preferably at some place that Daniel likes and Logan doesn’t care for (which is a rather small circle of options, but not entirely zero either), and take a rain check for the real celebration until next weekend. This would have also given me a little more flexibility, as I was working the booth in church over the weekend (not that it made a whole lot of difference, as the one evening spoken for would be Saturday, and the “E-girls” were unavailable then, too). But I didn’t, and that would cause problems when the day came around.

Then again, even before Daniel showed up at church yesterday – which in itself was a bit of a surprise, as I’d half-expected him to appear at the second service, rather than the third. On the other hand, he used to do so specifically because the folks would be there, and we both knew that wasn’t going to happen. Anyway, during the passing period between the second and third services, while everyone was milling about in the lobby (which was both fortuitous and likely precipitous – the former because everyone could easily be herded out the doors, the latter because it was probably some little kid who gave in to their intrusive thoughts upon seeing the thing on the wall), someone pulled the fire alarm, and we all had to evacuate.

I seem to recall a time in Daniel’s childhood – you would remember the story better, but I obviously can’t ask you for the details – when he acted on that impulse himself. I think it may even have been on an Easter, to top things off, but my memory might be exaggerating for comic effect. As I recall the story, he was thoroughly apologetic almost immediately – imagine the effect of that alarm on a synesthete like himself the moment he pulled the bar – but of course, once the alarm has been sounded, only the firemen can switch it off, and only after confirming that it was, in fact, a false alarm. But the story sounds too good to be true, and these days, I can’t imagine him doing such a thing. Then again, he could be a handful now and again…

But by the time he arrived, everyone was starting to file back in, so I had to tell him about the event, while at the same time mock-assuring him that at least this time, it wasn’t his fault. He did that little stature shrinking thing he does when he’s embarrassed, so maybe the story I remember is true; if he’d never done such a thing, he would probably pull a face and ask what I was talking about. In any event, this fire alarm is the one part of the story that’s not his, since he showed up after the dust settled completely.

Once the third service was over (as was my shift in the booth), I asked Daniel about whether he had any preferences about where to go afterwards for lunch; I was still thinking that the five of us, at least, could still meet up somewhere. It took him a moment or two (and honestly, I had set him to thinking about it before the service, so he had plenty of time to come up with it), but eventually he came up with something – and indeed, it was a place that Logan doesn’t care for – and I sent out of notice in the group chat. And this is where my not talking about it sooner caused a problem, as Ellen had already made plans of her own for the day, under the assumption that nothing was going to be happening if all six of us couldn’t assemble. A reasonable conclusion, but still disappointing

So we were down to four; at which point Erin indicated that she still needed to put in her eight miles of running that day, which would take her another an hour and a half to get to the restaurant. Since Kirsten was already on her way in her car, it didn’t seem reasonable for the three of us to sit in the place and wait for her.  So I got in my car, and Daniel got in his (well, yours, but you know what I mean; he was driving on his own because of my assignment.  We’re going to change this up soon enough, I assure you), and we went to meet her there.

Or so I thought. Given that it was now down to just three of us, Daniel had decided “eh, it isn’t worth it,” and just went home, leaving us sitting there in the restaurant for some fifteen, twenty minutes waiting for him before I decided to text him and find out what was keeping him.  After all, we were here because this was the place he suggested.  Again, he was apologetic in his responses, but also somewhat firm about not wanting to backtrack.  It was at that point that Kirsten suggested another place, nearer to where we live; and Daniel seemed willing to consider that as a compromise. So the two of us paraded back to the house, at which point I drove all three of us over there, and we had a decent time, if a little subdued in comparison.

At some point the conversation turned to anime – or maybe it was certain German words – and we told Kirsten about Freiren, at which point she expressed interest in taking a look at it.  So when we got back to the house, we showed her a couple of episodes… and then a couple more… and then a couple more… before she realized what time it was, and that she needed to get back home in order to tend to her dog and get to bed in order to get back to work bright and early the next morning. We apologized for queuing up the Sunday scaries for her, but bid her a good evening.

And that was pretty much the day. Like Daniel said when he informed us he was not going to rejoin us at the first restaurant, it felt more like an ordinary Sunday, rather than something special, but at this point, maybe the “ordinary” Sundays have a certain specialness of their own. They’re certainly a lot rarer than their name would indicate.

Which is why I tell you about them, even as other, perhaps more important, stuff is about to command our attention.  One has to remember the good times even as one deals with bad times – and sometimes the two get mixed together.  In any event, I need to get going; so keep an eye on me – or rather, us – and wish us luck, as we’re going to need it.