a new beginning. of sorts.

today i am home from work. sick. a springtime cold, if you will. it sucks. my throat feels as though it's coated in shards of glass. my cough, which is frequent and has made my chest sore, sounds like someone is beating a baby seal to death with a club. cliche, yes, but sadly true. even the dogs are shunning me. 

it's karma, of course. last week my parents had the distinct displeasure of being in town while i was effectively breaking up with a boyfriend i didn't even really have. that sounds more pathetic that it actually was. we were heading toward being a couple, until he told his wife, pulled away, got divorced, started dating someone who was not me. and not forgetting to tell me, while giving me the 'i want to be friends' speech, that because of me he's paying his ex-wife alimony. seriously, could i have felt worse? could he just have branded me Jezebel or Harlot and let it go? instead i had to play with his new, adorable puppies and cry.

needless to say, i was not a pleasant last week when my parents were in town. i was downright unpleasant. to make it up, i took a much valued vacation day on monday. i spent it with my parents, doing endless yard work. raking leaves (there are so many leaves here in memphis; no one told me the leaves would be overwhelming). spending a fortune on annuals and perennials. planting flowers. grilling. by the time they packed up to leave on tuesday morning, i think i'd redeemed myself. maybe. 

or maybe not, hence the awful springtime cold. it's warm enough out today that the fans are on in the house, which don't honestly help the cough or the sniffles or the throat, but it's leave the fans on or stifle to death. 

ansley swears karma, juju, whatever you call it, comes back with a vengeance. i believe it, i really do, but why am i the one with the horrible springtime cold and the empty bed?

oh, right. i'm the Jezebel. apparently. 

so here is what we've learned as of late, in no particular order.

1. it matters not if the divorce is in progress if the parties involved are still living in the same house.

2. it matters not that you sometimes give a leap of faith and believe what people tell you and have hope everything will work out, because sometimes it just doesn't.

3. your one true love - in my case, of course, elvis costello - will always come back to you (again, in my case, it was tuesday night at the new daisy theater with hundreds of our closest friends).

4. springtime colds are the worst - right after summertime colds, of course.

5. as much as i say i hate bean, i actually love him a lot - especially when he curls up on the end of the couch and isn't bothered at all by my wracking coughs.

6. one day soon i'll remember how to tell a story.

7. april showers indeed bring may flowers.