I met a friend for lunch in Decatur the other day. I swear, I almost crash the car every time I drive by this sign. Oh, Busey. I shake my head. Really, what were they thinking? Was that sign somehow meant for a much bigger building and they just slapped it on this one by mistake?
I stopped at Del's Popcorn Shop and got some cheese popcorn for Owen, because, well, you have to support that sign. And it gives me a chance to walk by some of my favorite window hoods I (just behind the sign). And look, I managed to crop the Jimmy John's sign out of the picture! Mostly I just sat and listened to my friend, who is going through a nightmare of a time, while we ate lunch. I love her dearly, and despite the rotten reason for seeing her, it felt good. Going home I blasted Aaron Lee Tasjan, listening to Dime over and over again. I've decided it's my anthem. You should always have an anthem, and this is currently mine. (Side note: I'm still holding a bit of a grudge against Ernie and Owen that when they came back from seeing Aaron Lee at Space they didn't even have, I don't know, a fucking signed NAPKIN or something for me, but I'm trying really hard to be adult and let go of that. But, but, but, surely there was SOMETHING on the merch table they could have gotten….)
Oh, ok, I'll go ahead and post the pictures I've been meaning to but didn't because I was pissed at them. I'm TRYING not to hold a grudge. It was only when Owen didn't want to share his pictures from the night with me that I blew. And I get that too…wanting to keep something to yourself. I try to be good, but sometimes I don't have it in me. Anyway, good GOD but I love Aaron Lee, and could that bass player be prettier?
You can tell Owen is thinking, "For God's SAKE, just take the picture Dad."
Owen hyperventilating earlier in the day at Chicago Music Exchange.
Ok, done, now back to current day… later that afternoon and evening I didn't feel great. I'd had wine over the weekend, and that doesn't always agree with me, but it felt like it was getting worse, rather than better. That night I couldn't sleep at ALL, and I was itchy, itchy, itchy, getting up in the middle of the night to change to see if that would help. Yesterday I just felt lousy, bleary and fuzzy. I met somebody I didn't know at Art Mart that morning, and I hope to hell I sounded coherent. Later in the day, as I sat in Avionics with my beloved Sasha, we were chatting about food and our respective intolerances and the like, and it suddenly occurred to me…WAIT, I HAD TOMATOES YESTERDAY! I felt so relieved to have figured it out. A few months ago, after the elimination diet, I tried reintroducing tomato and had immediately reacted to it. So I mournfully wrote tomato off. However, in the past month or two, I'd had a random cherry tomato or two on a salad when we went out, so I thought I probably was ok now. When I had lunch with JoAnne, I was too busy talking to think about it, so although I avoided the croutons and onion in my salad, I happily ate the big slices of tomato without thinking.
WELL. Damn. I mean, maybe down the road I can eat it, after all, I still hold out hope for garlic, but I guess tomato is off the table for now. I was incredibly relieved to have figured it out. I was beginning to google my symptoms worriedly. It was bad enough that right now I don't even care that I can't eat them. Come August it might be a different thing, but then again, supposedly fully ripe tomatoes have fewer lectins (which is why local is so good for us) which might make it bearable. We shall see.
So, onward. Happily tomato-freely and AaronLee-lovingly onward.