Like Getting Blood Out Of A Stone

Sleeping in late always catches you out at some point and for me, it was today. I fell asleep around 1am and was wide awake by 5.40am… Ugh.! With just as little energy as any other day, I knew it was going to be a long day. Having exhausted all interest in Facebook, I made breakfast and headed for the Xbox.

Bear rang at 12.40pm asking if it was okay to bring a colleague home with him, as they’re off out to dinner this evening with other colleagues and his friend would only have to drive all the way home for a short period of time and then drive all the way back again, so I said yes. Brave of me really, seeing as I have no idea which colleague (not that I know the names of or have met any of them), and I’m eternally awkward around new people, not knowing what to say other than hello, and just sitting quietly and not saying anything at all until they feel uncomfortable and want to leave.

The penalties of living in a foreign country and having a partner who doesn’t care either way if you learn the language, but he’s not going to be teaching it to you. I’ve picked up a lot in the past nine years, but not enough to get by in a conversation, although I understand a lot more than I can say. Curse words I’m pro at, pleasantries not so much.

Communication really isn’t Bear’s strong point. This dinner this evening is supposed to be a Goodbye dinner with ex-colleagues from the Psychiatric Unit he worked on for two years previous to last August. The thing is he went to a Goodbye dinner with his then-colleagues back in June last year and came home with gifts and cards wishing him success and luck in his new position back at the Psychiatric Unit he worked at prior to those two years. Still with me.?

So I’m confused. Is this dinner with different ex-colleagues, who missed out on the June dinner and decided to re-schedule a new one; or are they the same ex-colleagues that he had dinner with last June and who felt they had to ensure he’d left the keys, passwords and latex gloves behind before hitting him with the door on the way out.? Or have they all forgotten there was a June dinner and still think he needs to be said Goodbye to five months after he left.?

So far, Bear seems to think I’m psychic and will understand all once I initiate my super powers and read his bloody mind… not that I’d get much enlightenment from doing that, if I even could, too many compartments to choose from and I’d only get distracted looking for answers to the questions I had nine years ago that he still hasn’t bothered to respond to. Sometimes it’s like getting blood out of a stone… impossible.!

At some point I’m going to have to do the Mom thing… take a deep breath, sit him down and start from the very beginning, calmly asking pointed questions until I finally get the full picture. No wonder I’m exasperated and frustrated most of the time.! Good thing there’s limited alcohol in the house. 😀

So not only have I done sweet F all all day, I plan on doing the same all night too. Dinner is Gnocchi Gratin; vegetarian mince with onion and cheese sauce, gnocchi and toasted breadcrumbs with tarragon and goats cheese on top. Sounds like comfort food to me, so it’s perfect. If I can find an episode or two of Bones or NCIS on TV, all the better.

UPDATE: I did the Mom thing… the dinner is a Goodbye meal for other colleagues that Bear used to work with, before his two year stint in the other psychiatric unit, during which they left and found new jobs in other mental health organisations. So the ex-colleagues are all getting together for a night out to connect and catch up. Apparently, it hadn’t crossed his mind to tell me. 😮