David McElroy

An Alien Sent to Observe the Human Race

family

Time with couple reminds me how much I miss good conversation

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When I got to my friend’s house Sunday afternoon, I didn’t know his wife was going to be there. I hadn’t seen him in awhile and we had some things to talk about. We normally communicate by email or text, and I was looking forward to sitting down with him in person for the first time in several years.

It turned out that his wife joined us and we spent the next three hours having the best conversation I have had in a long time.

We had a wide-ranging discussion that covered bits and pieces of things ranging from psychology and family history to the nature of reality and the future of the human race, but all of it was very personal and every piece connected back to everything else. For me, it was a bit like being offered a hit of my favorite addictive drug.

I left feeling grateful for the time I spent with them — and it left me craving the meaningful conversation which I need from a romantic relationship.

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I feel anger toward those who casually resent life I wish I had

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“You coming with us tonight or not?” the man asked his friend.

One of the men was seated at the bar with a drink. The other was just walking in. I was having dinner with someone at a table close enough to the bar to see and hear most of what was going on.

“Christie said I’ve got to watch a [expletive] movie with her and the kids,” the man who just walked in said.

“Just make up some [expletive],” the first name said. “You don’t want to get stuck with that. I got some girls coming who Christie don’t need to know about, but they’ll be way more fun.”

I couldn’t hear well enough to get the details, but the basics were clear. A small group of male friends were going somewhere tonight without their wives — they were all married — and the trip secretly involved getting drunk and having sex with other women. And one of the men had been “pussy-whipped” — their term — into staying home with his children instead.

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We forget how to be happy, but children and animals remember

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I clearly remember the moment this picture was taken — and I remember why that day was so special to me.

I was visiting my sister and my nieces at their home in Nashville. It was an unhappy time for me — about 10 years ago — because I had gone through an emotionally difficult breakup. I was eating my way through depression and I’d gained a hundred pounds. (I’ve never managed to take all of it off.)

In the middle of that darkness, I lost the ability — at least temporarily — to experience joy or pleasure. The only exceptions to that were the joy and happiness I felt with my nieces and with my cats and dogs.

That’s Anna on the left and Katherine on the right. They were two radically different personalities, but I loved them both. They seemed to enjoy my visits, too. Maybe it was because I gave them interesting gifts. Maybe it was because we would go to Maggie Moo’s for ice cream. But I like to think they just loved me.

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