So this story all started in September, September 7th
to be precise. It was Rebecca and Sarah’s birthday dinner at Jamie’s Italian in
Canary Wharf and good times were being had by all. We decided that the wharf
would be a good place to meet as all the different parties were either just
about to move house or down from Scotland. Hannah was running late because of
work and had just arrived when we started talking about plans for the weekend.
Sarah and Garret were going to come visit me and Rebecca in Stowmarket for our
last weekend there and Hannah was going to be moving into her new apartment she
found with a nice Christian couple with a new kid while Luke move to Exeter for
Navy stuff, or so I thought. The discussion started about if she really wanted
to live with a newborn. Nothing against newborns, but with a job as a corporate
lawyer that extra wrinkle may be a bit much. (This was the conversation being
had, I meanwhile was either in my own world or talking to someone else) talks
continued on and I really didn’t pay much heed to it. This was mainly because for
the first time in the history of my job in Stowmarket, I was getting a call
every 15 minutes about work. As the night draws to a close we say our goodbyes
as we need to catch a train back to Stowmarket and my lovely wife turns and the
following conversation occurs
“Are you sure you’re
okay with this?”
“Of course princess” (wonder what I’m okay with – am I
moving Hannah in?)
Sarah popped in with “This will be so much better for
Hannah.” (Her boxes can’t be that heavy…)
“Yeah, living with us will be so much better than with a new
baby” (Wait, come again, living with us… time for some tactful info gathering)
“So what’s she going to do with the original place?” (Good
question, highlights that this may not be thought through)
“Well, there isn’t any contract or anything so she can just
cancel and spend this week with Luke’s parents.” (Hmm, well, looks like this is
happening… alrighty then)
Now, I should preface this with, I would never say no to
anyone if they asked for a place to live, let alone a family member that wasn’t
happy about their situation. The other thing I would like to say was that I
didn’t know Hannah. I mean, I knew she was Rebecca’s sister, but really I
couldn’t tell you anything about her other than some superficial information
and that she was instrumental in actually making sure that a wedding happened
in Vancouver for Rebecca and I. For that alone I will always feel indebted to
her. Luke I had talked to a bit, but the only significant association I had
with Luke was that when we were in
Vancouver just days before my wedding, while out at a local brewpub, he decreed
all Canadian beer to be shit and only English ale was worthy of consumption. So
my impression of him wasn’t that great. So you can understand how I might have
some hesitance, which I’m sure Hannah and Luke would have or really anyone
would have moving in with me. I can be a bit much.
Six months have now passed since then and last night Hannah
left to move to Singapore and I can now easily say that I will actually really miss
having her about. Many nights would have Rebecca stuck at work and left me and
Hannah stuck having to actually talk to each other. At first, I will be the
first to tell you that it was a bit awkward. I mean, technically I’ve known this person for
almost 11 years, but really, I didn’t know anything about them. It was made
easier that both she and I don’t seem to have any issues telling people about
the stupid stuff that we do. I mean, I write a blog about it. If my memory
isn’t too bad, I believe that was what we first started talking about when
Rebecca wasn’t around, especially stories involving Rebecca (it was our common
link after all)
Living with Hannah made me learn a lot of things. It’s made
me learn that apparently the last two cookies of a baked batch are “the polite
cookies” and Hannah will not eat them even if you try and force feed them to
her. (I even thought about smashing them up and stirring them into a drink of
hers to trick her into eating them). I learnt that her and I have both ended up
in our, I’ll say chosen loosely, careers not because of any motivation on our
parts. I learnt to feel pity for Rebecca and Hannah’s mom, because there is no
way anyone should be forced to reckon with the amount of cheese those two
consume. Best of all, I learnt the other side of the stories from Rebecca’s
childhood. Here, my darling wife was telling me that she would save up her
snacks before a long road trip and benevolently give them to Hannah and Nathan,
when in fact I've been told that no, she would be lauding them over the two of
them and it was simply acts of pure cruelty against them why Rebecca held on to
the extra goodies.
As for Luke, I learnt that while an early rising dictator,
at least he’s a benevolent one. He likes bread sauce, so his taste buds must have some kind of defect so I can forgive the beer thing. That and he like’s red pants a bit much, but
hey, I really can’t judge that at all can I?
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| Who could that dapper young man on the right be? |
In the end, I can easily say that even if I may not have been truly paying attention to what I was agreeing to, it was one of the better decisions that I've made since moving to London. I can even say that after she left us with a Bonsai tree… I can’t believe she just skipped cactus step for us altogether. Still need to figure out a way to sneak it back with Luke. Oh well, that will be another adventure for another day.
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