November 9th, 2005

Take Five

Last week on my Tuesday run to Best Buy I ran into an old friend. I hadn’t seen him in two years, for a variety of reasons, and it was a bit surprising. After exchanging pleasantries, he dropped this:

“Did you know my wife is expecting quintuplets?”

No amount of double-returns at this point will adequately express the jolt this was to me.

I congratulated him and made some joke about how it was a good thing he was stopping by Best Buy when he could since he wasn’t going to have any more time to do that kind of thing. He smiled and nodded before saying he had to get going, and then he was on his way.

Looking back on the encounter I’m struck with one particular thing: the look on his face. He seemed … stunned. It was somewhere between “I’ve just been told I own the Statue of Liberty” look and the “I’ve been told I’m going to be spending next week being chewed on by rabid badgers” look.

(The other thing that struck me afterwards was the fact that I borrowed a game from him a couple of years ago – Final Fantasy VIII for the PlayStation, I believe. I never played it for more than an hour or two and at this point, I never will. I ran across it when I moved and thought about getting it back to him, but wasn’t sure how I’d go about doing that. I mean, it’s not like he’s going to be playing it any time soon, but I feel bad that I’ve had it this long.)

I tried putting myself in his position and I think I understand. I mean, some days two cats is more than I can deal with, and I’ve been around people with a new baby and seen how difficult that can be. I cannot imagine getting five new babies all at once. Heck, being around five regular people at one time can be difficult for me! I wish them all the best.

Yikes.

3 Comments on “Take Five”

  1. JClark says:

    … yeah, anyway.

    I know what you mean about the cats. And at least you can lock them in a room for a while if they're causing trouble without child services breaking your door down.

  2. Brandyoldfashion says:

    WOW – Anyone I know?
    5 – wow that just is a lot. I manage 3, but I'm so glad there are only 3.
    (And I'm going to ignore the murder plea from above.)

  3. MadMup says:

    J- Completely! Locking cats in rooms is one of the best things about cats!

    Brandy – No one you know :)

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