Well - Part XXVII

Over the next couple of weeks, my daily routine was:

1. Arise, shower, shave, and prepare for the day.
2. Go to coffee shop, scan papers, make calls to prospective employers and send resumes.
3. Go home, take nap, await call that doesn’t come
4. Eat something.
5. Sleep more
6. Awake depressed, rinse and repeat

The interviews I did garner were lackluster to say the least. The opportunities didn’t interest me very much and I’m sure that came across in the interviews. I didn’t get any call backs and only one “second interview” (by phone) in that time frame.

I started to collect some unemployment checks and that was different hassle that I won’t go into much here but the money sure helped.

I maintained contact with both Cheryl and Jennifer during this time but, neither of them knew of my relationship with another. I felt more horrible about this as time went on. Jen was still being wonderful as far as letting me be as involved as I wanted to be. I wanted to help pay for the medical expenses that she was going to incur but the prerequisite for that was getting gainful employment.

Cheryl was recovering (according to her doctors). I still hadn’t seen her yet since the suicide attempt. I was told through her dad mostly that she was being kept pretty drugged up. I still longed to at least try and reconnect (again) although I had no idea where this relationship could really go. I guess I realized to a large extent this was going to have to hinge on her mental state improving.

The town had a ceremony honoring Cheryl’s brother and a special service on Veteran’s day a few weeks later. I attended out of respect and exchanged polite well wishes with the rest of her family attending the services. Cheryl, of course, was still sequestered in the hospital. Everyone tip toed around the subject of her brother’s death when in the company of Cheryl. So much so that I wasn’t sure how she was ever going to come to grips with the tragedy.

The approaching holidays were going to cause me to make some pretty interesting decisions. Jennifer asked what I was doing as did my sister and Cheryl’s dad. The decision was mine. I just didn’t know if I was going to cull a direction out of this decision or even if I had to.