Constellations and Consternation

I saw Orion for the first time on Wednesday night. He was large and low on the horizon, the three stars making up his belt perfectly aligned as I always remember. Orion is my favorite constellation and has been since I was just a wee thing. This was mostly due to the fact that, besides the Big Dipper, he was so easy to find. As I've grown older, Orion takes on a whole new meaning.

He. Is. The. Perfect. Man.

Brave. Strong. Noble. Heroic. Beautiful. Loyal. And the best part: Silent. He was just what I needed to see on Wednesday after a long car ride and an even longer evening of anxiety.

So, I went up to Boston on Wednesday night with my sister and her co-worker, Lexi, to see Lexi's fiance play with his band, Tripping Lily (amazing, amazing, amazing). My Seester and I had been planning this for about a week before the plans fell through three days before the excursion was planned. Since I had already requested Wednesday night off from work, I was trying to figure out what back up plans I could make to avoid sitting alone all night on my couch watching random sitcom re-runs or playing the original Mario Bros. on the sweet original Nintendo system my roommate bought off of e-bay. In the end, I told work on Tuesday night that I was pretty sure I could come in and work the next night, but would let them know for sure the next day.

This brings us to around 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning when I receive a call from Seester telling me that we were in fact going to Boston. Yikes. Just yikes. I'm in no way prepared to go to Boston that night. Besides the four inch stilettos I donned that morning, I was also wearing a skirt and sleeveless shirt which I knew would do nothing to ward off the chill evening air of September in New England. But, being the can't do anything without a plan spontaneous, bold person that I am, I decided to screw the man and go out for a night of fun. I called work and told them to revert to the original schedule. Complete mayhem and confusion ensued and I was yelled at to always alert the manager when there was a schedule change. This caused mayhem and confusion for me because, to the best of my knowledge, the schedule hadn't changed and I was alerting them that I wasn't coming in after all. Was I wrong?*

The funny thing is, even though everything with work was fine and I had the prospect of a great night in Boston, I was stressed about having fun. Is this normal? After a few pep talks by both myself and Seester and borrowing a co-workers cardigan (that went with my outfit!) I was starting to feel better. But, my anxiety only increased when Seester and Lexi were an hour late to pick me up and I realized that I very easily could've run to the ATM to pick up some cash and grab some dinner before they came. The funny thing is is that when I thought that (when they were only a half hour late), I still could've done both those things in time. It's kind of like when you're waiting to make a left-hand turn and there's a car coming in the distance and once you take the time to wait for them to get closer, you think, man, I could've gone when in reality you still could've gone when you were thinking that you could've gone but now you can't? ** What's even worse is when you realize that you could've gone even after you realized you should've gone when you thought you could've gone. I know you know what I'm talking about...and if you don't, you clearly did not grow up in a tourist town.

Regardless of all the previous happenings, I did enjoy myself that night for the most part. Primarily because the band was great and we ate at Fire & Ice. But, driving home at two in the morning with the prospect of a 15 hour work day to commence in the morning made me realize that despite the good food, fellowship, and music, was I just becoming an old fuddy duddy, more content to laze around on the couch, giving Bowzer a lesson, and going to bed at 10 p.m.?

Who knows. But, I told all of this to Orion while I was driving the long stretch between exits 10 & 11. He never gave me an answer. Damn silence.

*Before answering that, take into consideration the fact that I am never wrong. Never.
**Don't hate me for that sentence.