Majoring in Communication
It has been a pretty good and interesting day, and I had other things in mind to write about, but then this whole sequence unfolded before me, and it just made me laugh how much my family tends to get intertwined in one another's business - sometimes to disastrous result, but not this time.
Kerri: “Did mom turn her phone on yet?”
Me: “Um, I don’t know, it’s been weird today.”
Kerri: “What are you guys doing tomorrow?”
Me: “Well, mom and Parker are going out of town.”
Kerri: “What, like to a cabin or the woods or something?”
Me: “I don’t know, but they’re going to be gone for a few days.”
Kerri [sputtering]: “WHAT? Days!? So she doesn’t talk to me all day, and then disappears for days on end until I’m worried sick ”
Me: “Well, that’s why I’m here, to let you know what’s going on.”
Me [to Mom]: “She said she would’ve been worried sick.”
Mom: “Are you talking to Grandma?”
Me: “Kerri.”
Mom: Rolls eyes and walks away, picking up the phone to call Grandma.
Kerri: “Define ‘soliloquy’ for me.”
Me: “Okay, uh...(faltering definition given)…why do you ask?”
Kerri: “Oh, that word’s just been stuck in my head all day.”
Kerri: “Did mom get my text yet?”
Me: “Not sure, hey Mom, did you get Kerri’s text yet?”
Mom: “I don't think so, let me check… (long pause, checking, reading). Huh. I can’t answer that right now.”
Me: “What did you write?”
Kerri: “I asked her what she thought about me becoming a real estate agent.”
Me: “Oh.”
Kerri: “When I was texting Tobin today I asked him, and he replied with a long pause, so I wrote, ‘What the heck does that mean?’ and he wrote back, ‘We support all of your neuroses, Kerri’ What's that supposed to mean? But anyway, Anna and I are going to move to L.A. with Mike and we’ll built some capital, then start flipping houses and Kelsey (cousin) will be in on it because she’s majoring in construction management, and Mike will do all the interior design.”
Me: “Sounds like a great plan.” Because, really, what else is there to say?
Mom walks by, talking to my brother on the phone. Kerri overhears a bit and says, “I feel like I’m there!”
I hang up with Kerri, Mom tells Tobin he can talk to me now:
We sort through a few short matters of business.
Tobin: “Hey, what do you think about me moving back to Seattle and us living together?”
Me: “I could support that, wait, do you mean you and I or you and Annie [his sometimes-girlfriend].”
Tobin: “You.”
Me: “Oh, yeah, that would be great.”
Tobin: “Wait, when does Kerri graduate?”
Me: “Yeah, we could all live together!”
Tobin: “Not at mom’s, of course.”
Me: “Well, unless she hasn’t sold the house yet.”
Tobin: “Why don’t we all just move into Seattle together?”
Me: “Yeah, let’s do it. And Kerri can find us a deal since she’ll be in real estate.”
Tobin: “Ok, sure. But did you ever think about why they call them real estate ‘agents’ and not real estate ‘workers’?”
I know there's no real point to any of this, but sometimes the simplicity and immediacy of just recording reality appeals to me, so I went with it.
Kerri: “Did mom turn her phone on yet?”
Me: “Um, I don’t know, it’s been weird today.”
Kerri: “What are you guys doing tomorrow?”
Me: “Well, mom and Parker are going out of town.”
Kerri: “What, like to a cabin or the woods or something?”
Me: “I don’t know, but they’re going to be gone for a few days.”
Kerri [sputtering]: “WHAT? Days!? So she doesn’t talk to me all day, and then disappears for days on end until I’m worried sick ”
Me: “Well, that’s why I’m here, to let you know what’s going on.”
Me [to Mom]: “She said she would’ve been worried sick.”
Mom: “Are you talking to Grandma?”
Me: “Kerri.”
Mom: Rolls eyes and walks away, picking up the phone to call Grandma.
Kerri: “Define ‘soliloquy’ for me.”
Me: “Okay, uh...(faltering definition given)…why do you ask?”
Kerri: “Oh, that word’s just been stuck in my head all day.”
Kerri: “Did mom get my text yet?”
Me: “Not sure, hey Mom, did you get Kerri’s text yet?”
Mom: “I don't think so, let me check… (long pause, checking, reading). Huh. I can’t answer that right now.”
Me: “What did you write?”
Kerri: “I asked her what she thought about me becoming a real estate agent.”
Me: “Oh.”
Kerri: “When I was texting Tobin today I asked him, and he replied with a long pause, so I wrote, ‘What the heck does that mean?’ and he wrote back, ‘We support all of your neuroses, Kerri’ What's that supposed to mean? But anyway, Anna and I are going to move to L.A. with Mike and we’ll built some capital, then start flipping houses and Kelsey (cousin) will be in on it because she’s majoring in construction management, and Mike will do all the interior design.”
Me: “Sounds like a great plan.” Because, really, what else is there to say?
Mom walks by, talking to my brother on the phone. Kerri overhears a bit and says, “I feel like I’m there!”
I hang up with Kerri, Mom tells Tobin he can talk to me now:
We sort through a few short matters of business.
Tobin: “Hey, what do you think about me moving back to Seattle and us living together?”
Me: “I could support that, wait, do you mean you and I or you and Annie [his sometimes-girlfriend].”
Tobin: “You.”
Me: “Oh, yeah, that would be great.”
Tobin: “Wait, when does Kerri graduate?”
Me: “Yeah, we could all live together!”
Tobin: “Not at mom’s, of course.”
Me: “Well, unless she hasn’t sold the house yet.”
Tobin: “Why don’t we all just move into Seattle together?”
Me: “Yeah, let’s do it. And Kerri can find us a deal since she’ll be in real estate.”
Tobin: “Ok, sure. But did you ever think about why they call them real estate ‘agents’ and not real estate ‘workers’?”
I know there's no real point to any of this, but sometimes the simplicity and immediacy of just recording reality appeals to me, so I went with it.
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