Sometimes Its Worth it to Pull the Cancer Card

Friday was a big day.... it was my first time going out (okay over to a friends house) since I started feeling really really bad. I feel pretty excited when I am both alive and well enough to do something other than sit around the place I am living, or going to healers, or going to the hospital....

Nathan and I went to Eleanor and Hilary's tong ren class, which is actually only and online class. Now it is an online class and hostel. I pass out on the couch and Nathan on the floor. Sometimes people have been able to see that we are there but for the most part I think we are under the radar. It is a fun scene.

The plan was then to go to Rebeccas place which is very close to where the tong ren class is. We decided to stop at a grocery store on the way. I am a bit addicted to food browsing and Nathan is addicted to veggies (and hopefully succeeding in getting me addicted as well, so far it seems like it might be working). Our choice was whole foods or the locally owned coop... of course, we choose to go to the coop even though when I was there before I didn't like the feel I got there.... but I want to support local and whole foods has its whole political challenge. So we stop at the coop. As most cute coops that I have been to there was a little parking lot for people who are shopping there. I felt thankful that we didn't have to search for a parking spot in Cambridge and wouldn't have to walk far.... which is getting easier but I have very little muscle again and my body is working hard on healing. I noticed a sign about permits and such but I had such a clear story in my head that the lot is for shoppers that I didn't really register what the sign said.

Nathan and I went about what has become ritual.... we do some real shopping for a while and mostly I just browse and Nathan is okay to go along with it so far. We had a conversation about how we didn't really like the store and maybe we should go to Whole Foods but we are already here etc..... basically we were not happy with the selection.

So we buy a few things, pay and head out. When we get outside we automatically head to where the car is. I looked at the car...or really the spot where I thought the car should be.... "Nathan, is that where I car was?" He instantly realized that the car was gone and his computer which is pretty much his entire business. "Nathan, do you have the keys?" "Yes." Shit..... towed.... let me read that sign..... oh, this lot requires permits and doesn't really go with the store exactly.

So there is some part of me that just thinks that since I pretty much cant handle anything else that life will hold back......and wait for another time to dish it out. Two people who haven't driven much for years.... Nathan might have never owned a car but I cant remember......in the city with no car and a liver full of tumors..... nice..... okay okay.... i am really happy that i have a cell phone now. It definitely makes my life easier right now. Thankfully there is a number for the tow place on the sign..... lets call and make sure they have our car......only.... we don't know the license plate number when they ask for it..... hmm.... I will just call dad and ask him what it is.... only.... he is in the car, driving to the Cape, and no longer remembers all of the license plate numbers of the cars like he used to...... and has no ideas of how to find it....

It felt actually really great to have him have no idea, no plan for how to help the situation, and thankfully a willingness to just say, I don't know what to do for you..there is nothing I can do. Wow, I feel so happy that he was able to just say I got nothin..... and was willing to let us just figure it out without him trying to come up with a plan..... Anyway, still left us feeling pretty lost... I call Rebecca who always has a great attitude for things like this.... she was on her way to save us....

We decided that the car must be at that place and headed there. Dad told us we would likely need cash which was great to know ahead of time..... $158. Damn, thats more than I get in food stamps each month. Is there some way out of this? Hmmm... I was trying to just accept it and let go of thinking of all the things that money could do that feels more worthy a cause of using it..... trying to not complain too much about the way the sign reads that makes it hard to tell what it is trying to say.... trying not to just be pissed.

I was raised to try to get out of things like this.... I generally feel kind of embarrassed of doing that and if I am going to do it I feel that it is really important to be completely honest. Nathan was up for the challenge. When we got to the tow place, my shaved head spoke for itself and Nathan explained the situation. The woman we were talking to seemed about to just let it go and gi eus the car back.... but the other two women jumped in and were not willing to even give us a break..... they did tell us that we have to talk to the person who is contracting for this towing and that they couldn't tell us who that was.....

Nathan went on a mission and used Rebeccas phone to look up the store and found his way through that to someone who would pass our message to the person who we needed to talk to.....

It was starting to get long, we hadn't eaten since morning, I had little hope and was nearly ready to give it up and just pay. We decided though to head to Rebeccas and leave the car there and hope that the person would really call us back. We called from Rebeccas to check what the status was and holy shit..... they completely waived the fee.

Wow..... Thanks Nathan..... that certainly made a shitty situation have an ending that left me much more relaxed and less annoyed than I otherwise would have felt. Made for a good story and we still got to spend time with Rebecca...... just sitting there and talking which was great and all I was up for by that point.