The Waders Confrontation

I tried on my days off, leading up to this confrontation with the “Assholes,” to use some of the new techniques on anxiety suppression that I have recently learned from therapy and the book she has me reading. My T-doc will be happy. Basically I forced myself to think about something else every time it popped into my head and kept telling myself that I wasn’t going to blow up when we met. It wasn’t a breeze though; every time I thought about it did make me angry until I pushed it from my thoughts. The night that happened, I got a little snappy and Ash-wife told me so. She said that just because I was mad at them not to take it out on her and the kids. She was right; I was lashing out because I was mad. That was when I decided to try to stop the catastrophic thinking about the situation.

Well I let Van Horn and Smity off the hook. They came to me and apologized. Apparently Smity relayed that I was pissed. I kinda gave them a mini-lecture on consideration and friendship. I remained calm, but I did feel that my anxiety wanted to hit critical mass. I repressed it and kind of blew it off with some jokes. I told them that I was really pissed at first and that I had gotten over it, but that it still hurt. I explained the ardor my son showed about the promised outing as he talked about trip in earnest for 2 days. They said that they felt like shit. I said good, that they should. That I wouldn’t do that to anyone. That if I make an arrangement with someone, that not only do I show-up, that I make sure I’m there on time. I said that if unforeseen circumstance I had to call it off that I could guarantee that I would call that person. I also said that I didn’t even have to be friends or like the person to call them, that it was just a matter of respect and being a decent, well-mannered person. I mentioned over and over throughout the conversation that it was them that invited me and my son. I mentioned that we went out of our way to get a net and borrow waders, and that I even bought my fishing license just for the trip. I kind of just left it at that.

Later, the guy that let me borrow the waders for my son started livening it up more by talking junk. He started asking if I wanted to go smelting on my day off and said that if he couldn’t go he would give me a ring and call it off, thus not leaving me hanging. Smity and Van Horn told him to shut-up and not get me started again. We all laughed it up a bit. Then I kicked out a joking analogy. I told them that I felt like a teenage girl on prom night. I bought a dress that I wouldn’t finish paying off for some time. That I had spent countless time in front of the mirror with my mom trying to look perfect. That it was my big day. That I waited and waited for my date to come. That I waited for my corsage to be buttoned to my dress, only to continue waiting. That I was stood-up by an inconsiderate bastard and would be scarred for life. That he was the one that invited me to the prom, not the other way around. We all laughed.

Funny related story. I work with some goofy people. The guy that let me borrow the waders laid a condition upon using them. Now realize that he was the one that offered to loan them to me, because he was in the room with us when we were setting up the trip. Verbatim he said, “You can borrow them, but you have to tell your son not to pee in them. If you pee in them, you’ve bought them.” He was serious. We all laughed. I asked him if he was fucking retarded. He stated that he just didn’t want anyone peeing in them. I told him that I didn’t even have to mention this to my son and I’m sure that it wouldn’t even enter his mind to piss in his fuckin’ waders. I told him that my 8 year old daughter wouldn’t pee in them. That who in there right mind would pee in someone else’s waders, let alone there own for that matter. We all started picking on him. I told him that he was wasting his life worrying about stupid shit. That it was me most irrational thing I had ever heard and that he had made my day. That I would think about it every time I was down. We picked on him some more. I told him I could tell him just how irrational his fear was. I told him the whole purpose of wearing waders was to stay dry, so why would anyone piss oneself and stand around wet in pee. That it defeated the whole purpose of wearing waders in the first place. He said that he understood and we all continued to laugh. My sides hurt. He truly is one goofy MF.