BiCoastal Chronicles: My Favorite Filthy Breakup

Today, I was talking on the cellular telephone with my friend Megan and I mentioned to her that I was sitting in New Jersey bored out of my mind. I asked if she would take the train up to the GW Bridge and I would pick her up on the Manhattan side. She was all for it and a midweek party was born. In Bergen County.

My sister and brother-in-law are very easy going when it comes to guests. They pulled together a big tasty steak dinner and Megan brought flowers and chocolate covered pretzels. Everyone was well fed and then further stuffed with ice cream and berries.

After dinner was over, we took a walk around the neighborhood, came back to the house and watched hits from my brother-in-law’s Ed Sullivan Musical Performance DVD’s, of course, mostly fixating on Karen Carpenter singing, live, We’ve Only Just Begun. We just can’t get enough of that anorexic.

Then when we were getting ready to go to bed, we started talking about the logistics of pillows and pajamas and during the natural progression of conversation, Megan told my brother-in-law and me that she wears the same socks, her only pair, five days in a row before she washes them. Of course we had to ask her why.

Megan and her girlfriend are in a solid five month break up and Megan still hasn’t moved into her new apartment, but will very soon. In the meantime, her ex-girlfriend, two friends and a dog have run amok, leaving food partout while mold envelopes the bathroom. During this long transition, Megan stays away from her trashed old place as much as possible. When she goes back to the former love nest, she can’t even get a fresh pair of socks because the old girlfriend has cannibalized them, wearing them with no heed to breakup boundaries, and when she is finished, throws them in the hallway, used.