The Dug-Out

One of the really cool unintended consequences of leaving for the other end of the country is that I’ve gotten to spend some really enjoyable evenings with old friends. We all get so busy here that it’s easy to go weeks and (ack) even months without spending actual look-into-each-other’s-eyes-and-laugh time together with the people that are important. So, we’re all really motivated to do that before I go and it is really wonderful. We even stay up late like we’re young. :-) Last night, I was at Emily and Joe’s really neat house in Oak Park. They bought an extremely ugly, poorly-taken-care-of house, gutted it with aplomb and promptly painted the dining room red. The parts that are done look phenomenal and Joe continues to be a great cook. We’re all different kinds of teachers, which makes for shared passions and Emily and I went to elementary, junior high, high school and college together, so Joe does a nice job of looking interested when conversation goes that way. Two bottles of wine, some Miller High Life on ice and a few glasses of water finished up a fantastic evening.

Two nights ago, the ninth-hour teacher ladies all went out to dinner, which accomplished similar feats plus beautiful Noah, the giant personable baby.

Three days ago was lunch at the Earwax Café with Mark, when I got to see his stunning wedding pictures (which accurately reflected his moving wedding) and have the high level of intellectual exchanging of ideas that I’ve come to expect when Mark is involved. One of the added bonuses of being friends with Mark is that he has a good science fiction side to him, as well as an ability to process social phenomena. The café had a poster for my brother’s show that’s he’s headlining tonight at the Double Door (call me for tickets if you want them). It’s cool to see that someone besides my family actually knows Daniel is famous.

Last week, I spent an evening at Bill and Ruth’s house, who are the people that I worked for at the Renaissance Faire. They are in their 60’s and 70’s and have this incredible wealth of life experiences and a house full of gorgeous, whimsical art. Camilla and I stayed until 1:00 in the morning and I fully believe that Bill and Ruth could have gone longer. I would like to be them at some point in my life.

Add to all of these experiences all the time that I’ve gotten to spend with Camilla, who is finally home from Penn State and getting her Master’s Degree in Costume Design, for at least a few weeks. Also add the time with Elena, who’s at her own exciting and painful transition point in life, Jimmy John's with Carrie, post-modernism with Dan (blech) (the postmodernism, not Dan), an amazing evening with Steve and Maria, their beautiful daughters and delightful guest with connections to Orcas (why didn't we do this earlier so we could do it more?) and the phone calls that have been coming in. The joke has been made that Rebecca sees all of her friends twice a year, whether she needs to or not. :-) Although I think this is accurate, I’m glad that my friends have realized that right now, I need to, and have put aside their busy daily lives to open themselves to me like we’re college freshmen, discovering all of the ideas of the world for the first time because we don’t have a curfew.