nascondino

Our Sundays are always something to look forward to as opposed to any other day of the week. It usually involves a home cooked breakfast, running around with the dogs, and enjoying HGTV. Today was no different, except that I felt the need to do some shopping, clean the upstairs and do a little home improvement! I had to make a laundry list of items to buy and headed out on my own.

It was rather calm at the store. I expected there to be a bigger crowd, but there was barely anyone there. After picking up some much needed items, I headed over to Home Depot to pick out paint samples. My downstairs half bath has been in redesign limbo for close to a year. I have a bad habit of picking colors that are too saturated.  While checking out the Behr All-In-One Paint and Primer, I heard a familiar voice. I turned around and froze. It was my ex-boyfriend Henry. He was talking to one of the employees and I immediately turned back around and managed to sneak my way behind an aisle. I was petrified. I hadn’t seen him in a long time and it was super weird to know that he was at MY Home Depot!

I waited till he was out of sight to go request some paint samples and then decided to walk around the bath area. Lo and behold, I see him and his family pass by and I evade them once again. It was weird to see him and the group of 5. But the thing that bothers me the most about the situation is Henry.

When we dated I was aware he had 2 children and I was fine with not meeting them. I don’t believe our relationship was serious enough and it would be unfair to introduce stranger after stranger to young children. It wasn’t until 7 years later that I became good friends with a woman, who unbeknownst to me, was related to him. She explained that he was the black sheep of the family and how relieved she was that I didn’t end up with this guy. I was shocked at her reaction and I happened to mention his kids. She responded, “Yeah, all 4 of them.” I was perplexed becos both he and his girlfriend had come to my office to take a pregnancy test. I responded to Clem, “You mean all 3 of them?” She clued me in that he had 3 children when I was dating him. I was flabbergasted. How is that possible? Why tell me about two kids and not the third?

Back to the present. After having seen the family of 6 pass by, I couldn’t help but feel that I had dodged a bullet. It felt a little silly playing hide-and-seek even though he had decided to do the same with me years ago. It made me realize that playing games never gets you anywhere. And in order to find true happiness, we should be honest with ourselves before we can devote our lives to another.