a fleeting moment... or not

life is a funny thing. dan and matt's mutual grandmother died recently, and i managed to get the days off from work for the funeral even though i'm going down to north carolina to visit my dear friend patty this weekend. it's said that i never really knew dorris, but after eating a bunch of the recipes that her decendants made, looking at all sorts of old pictures that carol laid out, pouring over the geneology charts that maurice put together, and listening to the passing stories, i felt like i knew her.

and that sacred moment was then succeeded by coming back to work, from an emotionally and spiritually warm weekend in maine where family was, where home was, where earth was. and now i'm back here in boston. boston isn't bad. in fact, i had an absolutely lovely early evening when i got home and went for a job in the blossoming spring. i didn't realize how many trees there are around here. it turns out there are quite a few -- they're just not evergreens. and it's lovely! i went for a nice long jog, and then i walked back through ringer park up the street on my way back home, only to meet some friendly doggies and their owners (a couple of gay thirty-somethings) running around and sniffing each others' bums and playing catch and digging holes. it was wonderful! and apparently one of them is never that friendly with new people, but she was with me. i think that's why the owner decided that i was worthy of a lengthy, familiar conversation. then, i got back home, made dinner of mushrooms sauteed in white wine, toasted orzo, and steamed broccoli. it was magnificent if i don't mind saying so myself.

and JUST when i was settling into studying for the GRE's, ALAN PENNINGTON showed up on my doorstep! i had only a slight hint he was coming when this afternoon he gave me a buzz on my cell and said he was pondering coming down. but i didn't hear back from him, so i assumed it was a no-go. but there he was! he made it, and he and i sat down and had a great conversation.

one of the things i love the best about old friends is how you just pick up where you left off. well, not exactly. it's that the time in between doesn't matter as much, and you can talk about the things that are important to you once you have covered the basics of the past several months. before we knew it, we were talking about the theory of relativity. he's heading home tonite, and i'm more than delighted that he popped in totally unexpectedly. right now he and dan are playing a game of "magic." it's nice to have friends around. kathy is reading, i expect, and matt is getting ready for bed. how homey.

so the only thing batting against me right now is my job. and i'm not going to sully this otherwise positive entry with the "joys" of my job. it was worse than usual today, and i had a better than usual day otherwise.

goodnight!