A post in which I visit with Michael*

I was headed for work this morning with the best of intentions. I haven't worked on a Monday for a while. Things kept coming up. But something came up this morning, and I was bad. On my way in, as I was sitting in a 5 mile long traffic jam on 85, thanks to the spectacular spin out of a mini-van. Yeah. I got a text message from a buddy of mine. We'll call him R. It was R's birthday today, and he was thinking about me. Well I pretty much had to drop by and give him a birthday present right? It was good to see him again. I intentionally backed off from seeing him for a while because he is a really sweet guy, but tangled up in a failing relationship he can't get out of. Isn't that always the story? Anyway, I gave him his present, which ended up being really nice for both of us actually, and then I went on into the office. Not too late.

It was a very dull day at work. I'm pretty much caught up right now, and the few things I needed to do couldn't be done because part of the computer system was down all day. I was literally trying not to fall asleep at my desk. It was made worse by the fact that since I was late I got no lunch hour, so I had no break.

I'm not thinking a lot about M. But I'm re-reading A Houseful of Girls by, you guessed it, Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey. I have to confess that the differences between the steadfast, loving, reliable Maud; and the vain, superficial, thoughtless Lilias have never seemed more poignant.

After work I hit the gym and had a great workout. When I checked my phone, friend Michael (as opposed to ex Michael) had called, so I called him back. He was calling to check on me, and wanted to go to dinner, which was fine. I'd had a diet lunch today, plus I had exercised, so even after eating all that crap this weekend, I didn't feel bad about going. He said he'd meet me at the house. I then called Jason. We had texted back and forth a bit today, but he apparently doesn't have computer access, or email access, at work. We chatted a bit, but he had to go. We agreed to talk later.

Michael got to the house about the time I got cleaned up, and we went off to dinner at a little country buffet he likes over off Congaree Road. It was pretty much typical of the genre, but the food was pretty good, and the service was spectacular. The woman who waited on us went out of her way to make us feel welcomed and appreciated. While we were eating and chatting, a table full of cops came in to eat too, and ended up eating right beside us; so we had a floor show as well.

After supper we rode through the neighborhood and looked at some of the changes that have happened since Michael moved to Easley. He used to live right down the street from me. We ended up at my place, on the front porch, smoking and talking in the twilight. It was a gorgeous evening, the air soft and humid but not too terribly hot, and the bugs singing to each other from the trees. There was a gentle breeze that came by to brush my bare legs every now and again like a cat. Surprisingly for this time of year, the mosquitoes weren't too bad yet. We talked about life and death, family and love. It was one of those long talks you can only have with a friend you know very well, as the evening comes on and it's too dark to see each other's faces. When I finally checked the time, it was after 10.

I saw Michael off home, and came inside to get ready for bed. I called Jason to say goodnight. He was on his way to bed too, but I had told him we would talk before the day was over and I wanted to keep my promise. We chatted for a moment, with me snuggled up in my bed. It was a nice way to end the day.