InnerTeub

My friend informs me I haven’t been blogging enough. Which is fair, but every time I sit down to update this here page it starts looking something “grumble grumble work grumble grumble yes my carry-on bag DOES fit in the overhead grumble grumble weather” 

Fascinating stuff, I tell you.

In the absence actually news or interesting content, let’s revisit “InnerTeub’s Happy Memory of the Day” (take one here) with two random and completely unrelated memories:

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A few years ago, I was riding my bike in DC, and decided to drop in on my aunt and uncle, who lived on the bike route (For those who are familiar with the area, I was riding from Cap Hill to Rock Creek Park, and the family in question lives just off Rock Creek.) I’m close with my aunt and uncle, but hadn’t actually seen them for a few months – life, you know – so it seemed like just as good a time as any to pop by and be all “hey man, how’s it going.”

Upon arriving at their house, I unclipped from my bike cleats, picked my bike up, clip-clopped up their front stairs, and rang the bell. Almost instantaneously, the front door swung open, and my uncle goes “Oh good, you’re here. Let’s go.”

He hustled me (and my bike) inside the house, handed me car keys and a carry-on bag, and then pushed me out the door to his car. Apparently he was running late for his train and needed a ride to Union Station, which I proceeded to give him. (After dropping him off, I drove back to his house, grabbed my bike, and cycled home.) This whole thing was HIGHLY WEIRD, especially considering he had NO IDEA I’d be stopping by that day, let alone in just enough time to chauffeur him to the train station. I inquired about this while we were driving, and we had the following conversation:

 “Uncle John, not that I’m not happy to be giving you a ride, but… what were you going to do if I [completely randomly] hadn’t shown up?”

 “Oh”, he said, “Things always seem to work out, one way or another”

And that, my friends, is the best example I can give you for what it is like to try to make plans with my family. Plans? Eh, no need. Things always seem to work out.

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Once, in college, my professor responded to a student’s question with “You know, when I hear a question like that, I think to myself: “There’s someone who is getting a C- minus on the midterm”

To this day, that remains the best response to a stupid question I have ever heard.