It must be a Friday since there weren’t that many people out while I was busking this afternoon. The toddlers were kept in a short leash and the infants were just a drive by. No matter, I just practiced my playing, I’ve been focusing on the Beatles so today was I Dig a Pony and I Saw Her Standing There. I figure that most everyone likes the Beatles (it’s odd to meet someone who doesn’t) and their songs are easy and fun to play and recognizable. I’ve been wrestling with Baby’s In Black, it is easy enough with the chords, it’s the waltz timing that I am having trouble with.

Get Back is incredibly easy to play and sing along with and tomorrow I will see if I can get some backing vocals on Twist and Shout. Tomorrow is the party that Rand, Lisa and Lois are having for me, bring a guitar, a musical instrument and some food. Some people have RSVP’d and some have contacted me telling me they can’t make it. That’s too bad but them’s the breaks. Some people have to work, some people have to work around the house. Still it should be a good time with the friends that do arrive.

I texted my former co-worker Thomas today, wishing him and his fiancé a wonderful time at their wedding. Bill and I were invited but we couldn’t afford a gift and a rental car, and since we couldn’t very well show up without a gift we opted out. Thomas did express regret that Bill and I weren’t going to be there, and I bet as soon as the texting stopped he forgot all about it and continued to feed those butterflies in his stomach. As it should be. Thomas is a good guy, good enough to call him his real name, Brian.

I heard from my dear friend Billie from DC a few times this week. Apparently he sent me a birthday card which never arrived. He told me he sent a card to a friend in Baltimore in June and the friend didn’t get her card either. Both cards had cash in them. Someone in the USPS is a thief and stealing cards, or at least what accompanies the cards. Billie was justifiably pissed off and filed a complaint with the post office. Nothing will be done and no money will be recovered.

And Bill has been stressed. His aunt died last week, a week after his cousin was murdered in Puerto Rico. Bill’s mother who is suffering from Alzheimer’s was sharing a room with her late sister at Bill’s cousin’s apartment, and now it seems that Bill’s mother will have to go to a home. Bill’s mother has gotten worse, to the point where she doesn’t recognize her own son anymore. Obviously she can’t be left alone and a rest home seems to be the only way to go. So there is a sadness that is mixed in with the happiness of the week.

I suppose that’s how life is- you have to take the good with the bad. We’ve had some wonderful times this week and of course there is the underlying current of sadness. I am just glad that I can be there for Bill, if only to offer a hug and a shoulder to cry on. My life would be a mess if he wasn’t around and I am certainly glad he is, just as he is glad I am around. You’re riding high on Monday, and you’re shot down on Thursday. But we’ve got each other and that’s enough.