Living Sacrifice

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

What a night! Took TJ to a jazz club in Cinci tonight for his 21st birthday. Excellent company, music, and water to drink. haha I had water, but TJ had his first experience with al-kee-haul at the ripe old age of 21 (now now, not like he got drunk or anything), and the whole experience was just hilarious. We came in and sat down, and realized we had no idea what to order because we knew absolutely nothing about alcohol!! It was so funny. We had to ask the waitress about alcoholic drinks and stuff. TJ ended up having ammoretto (sp?) with orange juice. I sipped on my water, and we talked and laughed as the jazz music played in the background. They even had a couple special guest jazz musicians come in, one being Ira Sullivan, who according to MSN entertainment is "one of the great talents in jazz." Our waitress told us a little about him, and she also said he was one of the greatest jazz musicians in the world. Wow, rock on! :)

We also had a run in on our way out with a guy asking for change. I gave him what I had (a measly 20 cents), but then TJ and I ended up walking him to Donatos to get some pizza. Well, unfortunately, it had been closed for 2 hours already....and I started to get a little spooked at all the people sitting on the street corners. I mean, here I am, a female with a blind guy, my wallet in hand, walking on East 8th Street in downtown Cinci at 12am. We ended up just walking back to my car, leaving the guy behind with my 20 cents. I think I did the wrong thing. I should have offered him a ride to the nearest open food place and bought him some food. But sometimes, it's hard to make judgments on whether someone is being honest with you or not, and making judgments on whether they are safe or not. I want to help and love, but I don't want to be naive. Regardless, I learned that there are a lot of hurting, hungry people in Cincinnati, and that I've got it made in my little red "Kimmy 22" car driving back to a decent apartment where I have everything I will ever need.

When I got back to O-town, I made a trip to Kroger and ran into my buddy John West, who I thought was in jail for 6 months, but evidently it turned into about 3 weeks instead or something, because there he was. He's an old guy who makes ALL kinds of inappropriate comments to women (including myself), but he needs love (not sex, which I think he equates with love) just like anyone else. I spent some time talking with him, and when it got inappropraite, I would try to say "John, that's enough." Sometimes he would respect my wishes and stop, and sometimes he wouldn't. Regardless, I wanted him to know that I care about him but wanted him to respect me by not making degrading comments. I was scared of what he might do to me the first time he came into the theater, but now I know he wouldn't hurt me......just mostly talk coming from him, and I can handle that. Of course, I would never want to be in a non-public place when he was around, but that's another story.

ANYWAY.....so tonight I grapple with boundaries and how to deal with people whom I want to show love but don't really know how because 1.) I am a female and don't want them to get any wrong ideas about the love I want to show them, 2.) sometimes I am naive and 3.) showing love to someone doesn't always mean doing what they say or doing what they think is best for them.

So, that was my night. A good night, an interesting night, and a thoughtful night. But now, time to sleep.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home