These Past Days

I've been battling a cold that has put me a little out of commission. But I'm working away on my writing and hoping to get some big things published soon!

I got back from Yale on Tuesday night. Frank picked me up at Union Station and we stopped by the local grocery store, Harris Teeter, to buy supplies for a midnight feast back at my place. Then he left and I collapsed into bed.

On Wednesday, I was exhausted. The past two days had been so taxing. I was sick, and still pretty sleep-deprived. But there was a big event going on at the CIC and I didn't want to miss it. Frank had too much homework to go out that night, so I convinced Lee to accompany me instead.

But as it turns out, that goofy Lee and a sleepy me are not the best combination at serious events. He found a rack of greeting cards with rather cheesy, emotional sayings on them. At especially solemn moments in the discussion, when everyone around us was attentive and quiet, he would hold up a card for me to see that said something like, "I think of you so often during the day, my friend." Then we would both collapse into muffled laughter, earning the baleful stares of everyone standing near us. It was hilarious.

A lot of people I knew were at the event, but considering my silly mood, I decided not to stay and chat - especially after I accidentally walked into someone and then hit another person with my lunchbox. It turns out that when I'm tired, I don't get grumpy or quiet - I get unusually klutzy. So I corralled Lee and our other good friend Patrick and we all went out for dinner at one of my favorite Arlington restaurants. We even got cupcakes, which put me in a much happier mood.

Yesterday I finished up my big article about Yale, turned it in to the editors, and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Than Frank picked me up from work so we could go to a Scotch & Cigars event in honor of the big conference going on this weekend.

But when we got there, it was packed with so many people that we could hardly move. All the cigar smoke started to bother Frank's lungs. On top of that, almost everyone there was male. There were seriously like 3 girls in the room besides me. There was a time when those odds would have thrilled me, but last night they just made me feel tired. I only wanted to hang out with Frank.

We exchanged a wide-eyed glance. "Want to leave?" I asked. "Yes!" He responded immediately.

So we hit the road and went out for dinner at a barbecue restaurant instead. It was awesome - there we were in our fancy outfits, digging into a rack of ribs, potato salad, corn pudding and french fries. We had so much fun playing hooky from the conference. It was yet another confirmation (as if I needed one!) that this man and I are really on the same page, in so many silly and awesome and ridiculous ways.

My mom called me on our way to dinner, so I let Frank talk to her on the phone. Then he talked to my little sister Angela for a while. She found it highly suspicious that he knew what her favorite poem was. Turns out that he really listens to the stories I tell him about my family. He told me again and again how excited he is to meet all of them. I'm excited too. Family, I think you will love him.

After dinner we decided to go for a walk and ended up at a church near me, St. Agnes. We sat on a bench outside the church and had a long, serious, yet gentle conversation about the role faith plays in our lives. It was awesome.

We decided that we want to create some little traditions for ourselves. Specifically, Sunday traditions. Last Sunday we went to Mass together, cooked brunch at my apartment and then did "homework" together in the afternoon - I put "homework" in quotation marks because he actually did homework, while I worked on writing a letter to my little sister Cathy who is studying abroad in Spain. That day was so much fun that we've decided to try to do it every Sunday, if we can.

And now, it's Friday! Hurray! Frank and I are going to a reception this evening and then back to my apartment to get work done (seriously. I know, so lame to be working on a Friday night. But we're doing it together and that makes it sound kinda fun). Happy Friday to you!