'The Others'

“Things become understandable if you look at them in the right light.”
--THE GLASS BEAD GAME,
a novel by HERMANN HESSE
(Chapter: PREPARATIONS)

Diary Notes/Photos from June 8-12, 1988

Now that the Kelly 'saga of love' seems to be at a close I’ve been thinking more about ‘the others’.   Who are they?   There is Anne Alberti (who is still ‘heavy into Jeff’, her aerobics instructor cohort with the tight pants and big bulge in the crotch area), Amy Louise Platt (who is still around but I’m not so sure about where we stand), Debbie Honcik (who is a former coworker when we were 411 operators—but does she ever think of me?), Judy Geniella (she’s divorced and has a pre-teen son and there’s the long-distance issue with her living up near Citrus Heights), Paloma (married and another long-distance situation in another country), etc.   Who knows who could be next?

PHOTO:  Michael J Armijo, Amy L Platt Shreve, Michael G Miller

Of course, I could also go out to one of my favorite dance clubs and hopefully meet someone new.   It’s hard to be a male wall flower in a nightclub.   It never seems to work out as a significant relationship.   I find that the ones I meet in different circumstances (other than a bar or nightclub) turn out to me much more meaningful.

And so, I decided to call Amy Louise Platt in Lafayette.   She’ s still working as a nanny/registered nurse for that wealthy family.  She always goes 'on and on' about Nantucket and her upbringing in the Hudson Valley area (somewhere in the Pocantico Hills area of New York).   It sounds like a nice place to visit and experience. 
PHOTO:  Princess Diana, 1988

Amy made me think of a former pen pal, Diane Spencer that I would write to religiously when I was age sixteen because there was a maturity about Diane that I sincerely liked.    Diane was twenty-three and I was sixteen.    Diane lived in Greenwich, Connecticut.  Whatever happened to her?   It’s funny because Princess of Wales was named ‘Diana Spencer’ before she married Prince Charles in England at age twenty-two on July 29 1981.  I screwed up my relationship with Diane Spencer when I wrote her during an evil Gemini twin moment and asked her, “Why on earth are you writing to me when you’re twenty-three and I’m only sixteen?”   I believe that hurt her feelings and our correspondence came to a sudden halt. 

Amy invited me over to Lafayette for a BBQ on this lazy summer Saturday, June 11, 1988.  “Is it okay if I invite my roommate, Mike Miller?”  I asked.

“Sure, why not?”
PHOTO:  Amy Louise Platt and Mike Miller

I knew Mike wasn’t doing anything and I figured it would be a kindness gesture to invite him as well.   I didn’t want her to think I was solely focused on the idea of just “us” yet.   I wanted to feel her out.   I mean, I think she likes me but I am still uncertain about her because she acts so much older—not that it’s a bad thing.  She simply likes to be the guiding force and I'm not so sure I like that very much.

“Hey Mike, do you want to go to a BBQ today with my friend Amy?”

Mike stretched and decided to hum and haw.
“Well, you don’t have to go.   I think it’s just us—but if you’re not doing anything it might be fun for a change of pace.
“No…no…it’s not that.  I just have all of this studying.  Heck…I’ll go.  I want to.”
“Okay, great.”  
PHOTO:  Amy Louise Platt Shreve

Amy is fun.   She was talking about her accomplishments in nursing while at the BBQ.   She mentioned her investment in JOHNSON & JOHNSON and felt so strongly about it.   I liked that she owns stock in that company and it made me jealous that I don’t own any of it.

The BBQ was fun.   I will call Amy again.   Mike and I had a good time and I really like Amy and that fact that she has a brain.   After the BBQ I dropped Mike Miller at home and then escaped to visit mom for a while.

June 12, 1988, SUNDAY

It was a perfect day for a bike ride.   I swiftly went for a ride and then returned home to shower and change.   I went to mom’s house, feeling happy that I had another day off before work started again tomorrow.

While in mom’s kitchen I asked mom to take a photo of me, holding a bottle of wine.    It was nice to spend the day with mom.   We were going to watch a movie when I looked out of the kitchen window.

“Oh no, mom…Nellie and Cecelia are HERE!”

“Oh forget it.   We can forget the movie for a while.”
I laughed, “Maybe they won’t stay for very long.
My Aunt Nellie is my dad’s half-sister.   They had the same mother (Mathilde Garcia-Vigil).  My cousin Cecelia is the daughter of my dad’s other half-sister Esther Garcia.  
Cecelia said, “We were in the area, so we thought we’d stop by.”

Nellie, Cecelia and my mom talked up a storm.   They wanted to see how my mom was doing.   After all, my dad only passed away last August 1987.   It hasn’t been so long.   It was nice to see them and listen to them talk about family gossip.   Of course, I took a photo of the three of them (mom, Nellie and Cecelia) in my mom’s living room to mark the moment.

PHOTO:  Nellie Vigil, Cecelia Markus, Virginia Armijo

On Tuesday, June 14, 1988, I received a welcome and thoughtful visit from Christine Hicks of San Ramon, CA.   We spoke of Kelly, of course.  Christine seemed sad about my break-up with Kelly.  

“Is she sad?” I asked.

“Of course, Michael…It’s not easy for her either.”

“Well, I’m moving on.   She’s made her decision.”

Each of us is merely one human being, merely an experiment, a way station.   But each of us should be on the way toward perfection, should be striving to reach the center, not the periphery.
--THE GLASS BEAD GAME, a novel by HERMANN HESSE (Chapter:  THE CALL)