Miss you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was the real subject line of my last email from Lonnie Ray. As my eyes scanned the row of extraneous punctuation, I was concerned. What? Only 50 exclamation points? Truly, he must not care for me any more. But as I counted them once again, I can see that all 70 were still in place. Phew!

I approach it like a game - by phone, by email, I try to get him to elicit another sentiment than "I miss you." I don't think that my daughter, as a needy toddler when I traveled on business, was as mournful at my absence as LR. In a 10 minute phone call yesterday, he EASILY uttered this phrase 10 times. I tried to find out more about his day - what he did, who he saw, how work was going, etc., but he is completely unable to redirect from this singular thought. This isn't conversation - it is a volley where he will state the phrase until I repeat it back half-heartedly.

I have been trying to keep LR at bay. I hate to cut him lose entirely. His statement of "I hate to drive" is raising its ugly head as the last two times we had plans he cancelled when he had to come here. On the other hand, if I'm in his neck of the woods, it's fine. This might make for an easy exit: "I sold my car! I"m sorry! I can't possible make it down to your place." (click).

But Thurs. I have business in Concord so we are getting together for dinner. He suggested an Italian restaurant I knew of. "Oh, that sounds great! I love Italian food. See you then." Somehow this straight forward statement confused him. "We don't have to go there. Whatever you want!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!." I believe he is thinking so hard about his next iteration of "I miss you" that he wasn't listening. After reinforcing that I liked his choice, he got it. I .... LIKE ... I-TAL-IAN ... FOOD .... OOOOOOOOOOOOO KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK???

Fortunately I have to return home after dinner, thus making for a short evening.

Then I made the mistake of mentioning that I am on vacation the last two weeks of April and am looking for something fun to do. "I can't take any time off from work but you can come down here. That's what you'll do." I politely declined and he repeated it as if he didn't hear me. So I got out my 2x4 and hit him with it - no, I am actually looking for something ... FUN ... TO DO - I DO NOT WANT TO SIT ALONE IN YOUR EMPTY APARTMENT ........ OOOOOOOOOOOOO KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK????

So yeah, this has got to end soon. I'm wearing the characters off my keyboard for "1/!"