I finally trudge my way to Mr. Howell’s office and stand, intentionally, just at the door not budging inward.<\/p>\n
“Yes, Sir.”\u00a0<\/em>I say with the most disgust and annoyance anyone can utter–but with a smile, of course. \u00a0Again, I’m not even post-positive that Mr. Howell understands the magnitude of the needy odor that exudes from his body.<\/p>\n “I can’t seem to turn on my computer.”\u00a0<\/em>Mr. Howell looks so helpless as he continues to push the on and off power button of his new Dell XPS Desktop. \u00a0He is pushing buttons and rocking it and hitting it on the side. \u00a0He is so frantic.<\/p>\n “Wait-a-minute!”<\/em> I step in to the rescue. \u00a0I touch his hand sincerely and step beside him. \u00a0I have to remind myself\u00a0that things that come easily to me, and seem second nature, are not necessarily so for others. \u00a0My duty as a human being is not to remind others how smart I am, but to encourage them to see the greatness within themselves.<\/p>\n “I’ve done everything I know how to do. \u00a0I’ve unplugged it and plugged it back in. \u00a0I’ve held the on and off switch. \u00a0I can hear it running, but it just will NOT turn on. \u00a0It’s as if there is some sort of disconnect.” \u00a0<\/em>I really get no joy in mocking him when he is like this. \u00a0I’m accustomed to him calling me for utter nonsense, but computers are something that just doesn’t click for everyone.<\/p>\n I hear the computer running and I look up at the monitor. \u00a0The light is not on. \u00a0I rub my hand along the bottom of the monitor as if I am looking for a loose cord or something. \u00a0I allow my thumb to slightly, but without detection, push the power button on the monitor. \u00a0I then ask Mr. Howell to push the power button on the desktop tower. \u00a0When it comes on, I simply look at him and say “Technology is like women. \u00a0Sometimes they have to be rubbed in order to turn them on.”<\/i> I give him a smile and touch his shoulder as I walk away and out of the office.<\/p>\n As I walk up the stairs, I feel a vibrating sensation from my hip. \u00a0I look at my phone and see a text from one of my best friends, Travis Bryant. \u00a0The concert is sold out.<\/em><\/p>\n I run up the stairs, hurry to my office and dial his number in a frantic. \u00a0“What do you MEAN they are sold out? I thought we agreed that we would buy the lawn tickets!”<\/em> \u00a0This is the concert of the decade scheduled to take place at the Taliaferro County Amphitheater. \u00a0The concert will have Boy George, Debbie Gibson, Paula Abdul, and so many more classic ’80s groups and singers. \u00a0We have waited ALL year to see this. \u00a0Travis is married and his wife, Denise, is such an endearing, sweetheart. \u00a0She’s an introvert. \u00a0So, concerts are just not her immediate cup of tea.<\/p>\n “Yes, Luv! Sold out!.” \u00a0<\/em>Travis is from Riverside, California. \u00a0He has been in Taliaferro for about 10 years. \u00a0He is a Thespian and we met and connected on the set of The Man Who Came\u00a0to Dinner. \u00a0<\/em>He played the flamboyant\u00a0and outspoken Beverly, and I played the giggly, meddling Ms. Dexter. \u00a0We instantly clicked. \u00a0It was a friendship made in Heaven, crafted, molded and placed here on\u00a0earth, just for us.<\/p>\n “You mean the GRASS<\/strong> is sold out! \u00a0What you are telling me, is that there is NO more room….on the GRASS<\/strong>!” <\/em>I say in sarcastic disbelief.<\/p>\n ” Yes, Honey. \u00a0NO grass room!”<\/em> He belts back at me while laughing. \u00a0It is awesome when friends actually get you. \u00a0I mean, really get you and who you are about. \u00a0I am making jokes and laughing, but kind of down about missing the concert. \u00a0I have just started going out and I’m trying to have some place to go on a regular basis. \u00a0I live vicariously through my relationship with Travis. \u00a0He is married, yes, but Denise is not at ALL threatened by our friendship. \u00a0As she shouldn’t be. \u00a0Travis ADORES his Denise and I admire and love the way they love each other–would break the kneecaps of anyone who dares try to intervene. \u00a0I have stayed the night with Travis and Denise and have crawled in the bed between the both of them. \u00a0They are like my brother and sister. \u00a0When you truly understand the dynamics of a relationship, and you truly cherish what God has put into your life, you understand how wonderful it is and never want THAT to end. \u00a0Travis and I have gone out to dinner, we’ve gone to movies, plays and so much more. \u00a0As a matter of fact, my first date of choice, presently, is Travis. \u00a0 He gets me and I never have to put up the relationship wall. \u00a0Since the concert is sold out, we have to now find some other alternative. \u00a0Just as I’m about to speak a come-back, I hear footsteps approaching. Keith is on his way in.<\/p>\n “Hey, Beautiful.”\u00a0<\/em>Keith sings<\/i> to Salina as he walks by her desk and peeks his head into my office.<\/p>\n Never looking away from my computer monitor, and continuing to type this last letter, I acknowledge his presence at my door. “Yes, Keith. \u00a0What can I do you for?”<\/em><\/p>\n “You know I hate when you do that.”\u00a0<\/em>He murmurs as he walks completely in and plops into the brown, leather, over-sized chair in my room next to the lamp and the coffee table–also, two items acquired from the handy, local thrift store. \u00a0Despite Keith’s seemingly pompous attitude, my heart really goes out to him. \u00a0He is sorta like the one-hit wonder band who is always looking for that next hit. \u00a0Sure, he does get the occasional small personal-injury claim or the misdemeanor criminal court cases, but he is still seeking for that Top 10 thrill. \u00a0The problem with these bands is that they always appear as though they think they are more than they really are. \u00a0I see past all of that. \u00a0I know that no one has to tell him that he hasn’t had a big\u00a0case in years. \u00a0I don’t have to tell him that\u00a0his budget does not give him the option to shop at Ross for less, but his budget REQUIRES he does so. \u00a0I have grown as a person enough to realize that, when people are down and are going through, no one around them has to beat the “dead horse when it is down.”<\/p>\n I guarantee you that personal failures personally remind you of their existence,\u00a0daily.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I finally trudge my way to Mr. Howell’s office and stand, intentionally, just at the door not budging inward. “Yes, Sir.”\u00a0I say with the most disgust and annoyance anyone can utter–but with a smile, of course. \u00a0Again, I’m not even post-positive that Mr. Howell understands the magnitude of the needy odor that exudes from his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[5,7,8,10,12,14,16,17,18,70,29,30,32,33,36,37],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-memoirs-of-a-paralegal","tag-attorney-drama","tag-danni-j","tag-drama","tag-howell","tag-keith","tag-law","tag-law-office","tag-law-office-drama","tag-legal","tag-memoirs-of-a-paralegal","tag-online-drama","tag-online-soap-opera","tag-paralegal","tag-salina","tag-sweet-danni-j","tag-taliaferro-county"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2WTgw-3D","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sweetdannij.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}