Almost an incident free holiday weekend... Almost.

Disclaimer: If anyone takes any racial undertones within portions of this next tale as bigotry, you are looking too much into it. Some words that may be used are for descriptive purposes only.

                We are on day 2 of the consecutive days spent with my ex-wife. Day one was fairly uneventful and actually pleasant to partake in a day as a family, except for the back-seat driving that was mentioned in the last blog. We had taken Cole down to the newly developed Central Warf here in Buffalo. It was fun to take the boy to a miniature beach that had been constructed in the heart of the Warf. We walked along the water showing him the different boats that are along the shore line and then took him for a boat ride on the Queen City Water Ferry. Nothing exciting to write home about, but I enjoy being on and around the water and want to share that with my son.

In my opinion, it is important to show Cole that he still has a happy family even though we no longer live under the same roof. My son is going to need that kind of cooperative atmosphere so he feels some semblance of normalcy in regards to a happy unified family life. I understand this, I am a product of a broken home, but the difference is that my father is not involved in my life… I am fully vested in my son and his life and will be there every step of the way.

 Well, my ex and I decide that since it is a holiday weekend and we both want to spend holidays with our boy that we will get together again the next day to go watch fireworks as a family. The next evening my ex comes over to my apartment to meet Cole and I so we can all drive down to the waterfront together. Nothing beats seeing fireworks over the water… granted explosions from war are far less intense and relevant as Chinese made entertainment that fills the sky every July 4^th, but I can see how Francis Scott Key found his inspiration.

It was a beautiful, sunny Fourth of July evening, low eighties to high seventies for the temperature so it was a given that there would be large hoards of people in attendance. We depart for the waterfront at around 7:30 to get there early, find parking and get some ice cream. This was a good idea because finding parking was no easy task. There is a line of cars waiting to enter the Erie Basin Marina parking area with few cars exiting. We decide to go with the old “Christmas shopping at the Mall” technique, you know the one… Follow someone that is leaving out to their car and wait for them to exit so you can secure their spot. I know, feels somewhat like stalking, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

We follow out a couple who gets into their vehicle and proceeds to sit there. After a few minutes, I roll down the window and ask if they are leaving, they say no. I think to myself “you assholes know that we pulled up waiting for your spot and you couldn’t even let us know you were not leaving!” OK, no big deal, we will just go find another spot. Well the lane we are in cannot be traveled straight through as there is a barricade at the corner preventing us from turning onto the next lane at the corner. I have to back out to the cross lane that I came from. Well there is another vehicle now behind us. I start to back up hoping that he would get the hint that we cannot proceed forward. At first he backs up as well, but then stops.  I open the window and ask if he can keep backing up so we can get out. He replies in his Somali Pirate accent “fuck you, go around, I must go through here!” I am fucking pissed off; I cannot go around this cocksucker because he is right in the middle of the fucking lane. I hop out of my truck and say “The lane is fucking blocked off up ahead, I cannot get though!” He says “Oh, Sorry” and backs up. Problem averted…

We drive around using the same technique, but this time I ask the people that we follow if they are indeed leaving, they say yes and we follow. As we are trying to drive to this parking spot, the Queen of the Barrio” along with her Jennifer Lopez/Kim Kardashian sized ass are just sashaying right in the middle of the road. I follow for a bit and am getting annoyed, she has to sense that there is a vehicle behind her thus she should move to the side. She’s not getting the message so I lightly honk the horn, she turns around with that “How dare you/do you know who the fuck I am” look. Still not moving to the side of the road, the ex decides to give the ghetto fabulous bitch the finger, which I wholeheartedly agree with. The tattooed Latin Princess starts talking all kinds of shit in her broken spanglish (half English, half Spanish) so my ex rolls down the window and starts talking shit back. What the fuck… two incidents in less than five minutes, what is happening down at the waterfront. So the two ladies continue back and forth for a few seconds as the male companion comes up and starts to pull the Queen of the Barrio away. This Bitch the throws her beverage all over the side of my truck!!!

Now I am fucking fuming! I roll the window down and call her several profanities and yell “what the fuck is wrong with you?!” At this point I am forgetting about the sizable male companion who looks like he might be the type that would carry drugs and or a weapon (yes, I am stereotyping). He is actually very cool and is trying to play peacemaker here. He apologizes for his girls’ actions and actually offers to pay for my vehicle to get washed. The girlfriend continues to rant and rave while the boyfriend is telling her to apologize sensing he does not want to attract police involvement. Again he offers to pay and I decline due to the fact he forced her to say “I am sorry” sincerely after her first attempt of “I’m sorry bitch.” I am satisfied with this result and leave it be even though I am pissed and have to take my truck for a wash in the morning.

I fully expected this series of event to sour the ex’s mood for the rest of the night, which would spell splitting headache for me. Again I was having flashbacks to the times where I was married and she was in a miserable mood and I sat back and took it. She was somewhat sour for a few minutes after this incident, but to my surprise she mellowed out. Now mind you this all happened with my son in the back of the vehicle, which I regret terribly and if anything had turned violent and he was hurt it would be our fault for not taking the high road as mature adults and simply walked away. These are lessons that are being learned on the fly, and will know better for next time. Well, I almost made it through a holiday weekend incident free… almost.