It’s a grey day outside. There was a sligh threat of this kind of weather yesterday, but today – I think I even heard rain coming down this morning – that pleasant staticky ALMOST white noise that tells you that no matter what else is happening in the world, the Earth around you is getting a thorough scrubbing.
Last night we ended up on the doorstep of an old, old friend of mine. Nicole and I dated somewhere in my sophomore or junior year of college, I think. I’d have to go through old Little Black Books to be sure – but somewhere around 9 or 10 years ago. It was really good to see her, meet her husband (understated and handsome, he’s really quite Lovely) – and even better to get dragged down to her parents’ new house down in Charlotte.
Old friends, good dinner. Very nice evening.
Almost as much as I Love crossing paths with old friends – I Love re-encountering their STUFF. Some people have gotten rid of all their old trappings, but they still leave clues. Items hidden in dust that have been carried with them through multiple moves and long travels – so many have abandoned their “childish trappings” – whether that’s Muppet toys or fantasy books or Frazetta posters… at some point we’re supposed to outgrow this stuff and get on with owning Matisse prints and house plants (that we DON’T kill), garden furniture and perhaps gnomes.
Nicole has this perfect synthesis of “grown up” and all the things I remember from her college dorm – it’s a trick. The books are all nicely places and well-read and scholarly, but on closer inspection are all Star Wars and Terry Pratchett and other fine sci-fi/fantasy selections. The prints on the walls are all nicely framed and tastefully placed – and on first glance you don’t notice that it’s a map of Middle-Earth on the wall. Discarded cat toys peep through cracks in the molding, and you wander through the house being watched by tiny, beady eyes.
The only time the illusion completely breaks down is in the Dark Room of the Sith. A bathroom in which Vader watches your every orificial contraction with a cold, malevolent glare.
Today is a beautiful day – grey and velvet with occassional drops of cold rain to remind you that fall is on it’s way. It’s a welcome shift in an atmosphere that has been clinging with summer, drenching us in humidity and stick and blood-temperature moisture. Sleepy day too, though. Hrm. Snoooze.
