Wonders, Wanders

Back in time, to 2007.



"Gangsters don't fall in love, do they?"

That's me doing my hair and asking my father Life's burning questions. I'm getting ready to head back to Frisco, he's come by my hotel to give me a ride to the airport.

I hadn't seen him for sixteen years until about a month ago, and before that we barely knew each other at all. So every conversation is a pretty big deal for us. I can ask him open-ended shit like that and learn about a million things more, you know?

He sounds doubtful at first. But then.

"Well. Your great-grandfather fell in love with your great-grandmother. He broke all kinds of rules for her..."

He goes on to remind me of their story. His name was Tony and Her name was Marguerite, and that's about all I'm willing to go into in this Funhouse Mirror style writing.

I'm still doing my hair. There's a lot to be arranged. I don't like to fly, and later I'm going to see Rob Dyrdek on the airplane. But that's another story, and I don't know about that yet.

"I always thought I'd marry a gangster."

"Yeah?"

I'm looking in the mirror at my makeup so I can't see him smiling, but I can hear it. He's laughing a little too. He totally gets me, I don't have to qualify that statement for him at all. He's definitely my Pops.

"But I've been waiting around for a gangster to fall in love with me. And I don't know. I'm learning so much. I just realized that's probably never going to happen."

A pause. And then

"I guess you'll have to settle for your old Dad, then."

And that's such a Dad thing to say, and such a novelty for me, that I'm not even disappointed that I just lost one of my goals in life.

I've got a bunch more, so on to the next.

And I have about a million more questions, too.