Good Gravy, What a Good Weekend!!!

I told you sickness wouldn't keep me down. No amount of puking, nose blowing, coughing or anything else was going to keep me from seeing all of my wonderful friends.

My plans on Friday were canned as you saw. But I slept late on Saturday and felt a bit better. I jumped on the T (subway) and headed out to my old haunts near B.U. I spent the better part of Saturday afternoon visiting my wonderful friends that run stores & diners in that area. They all saw Pokemon Boy born and raised to about the age of 3. Some of them kept seeing him even after we moved away. So that was very cool. The owners of my favorite diner (and makers of the best pancakes this side of the Pecos) hadn't heard about the demise of my marriage. So that was sad news to pass on. I think it helped for them to see me in my current energized state and not in the weepy snotty mess of a few months ago.

I got to see my wonderful friend Tex (not his real name and pretty funny considering where I now live). We hung out and exchanged old stories. Then we sat there just emptying the closet of everything we could dig up. For some reason, we can tell each other anything. So we dumped on each other and it was refreshingly cathartic. Plus, he's just a very interesting and fun guy.

After that, I hailed a cab to run over to the other side of the river. Months of anticipation had gone into the plans for this evening. I haven't seen my friends from Boston Rock Opera days in years. Literally. I probably hadn't seen most of them for a year or two (or more) even when I was still living in Boston. So I had put together a gathering of a rather short list of them. My criteria was, have I talked to you in the last year - if so, you were invited. I just didn't want to have to fake the niceties of talking to people I hadn't kept in communication with. I also didn't want to have to retell the marriage implosion story over and over. Or maybe it was that I wouldn't have to tell it over and over because the peripheral people don't really want to know? I have no idea. But I kept it to a small list of people I've been in contact with over the last year or two. It ended up being about 12-15 of us? Can't really count. I don't have enough fingers.

I don't know if you've ever been to a gathering of musicians and/or theater people. It's not like any other gathering of people I've ever been part of. There is something very goofy going on with these types of people. We instantly revert back to our 8 yr old senses of humor. And we have no problem just letting go and laughing until our vocal cords are shredded. I needed a full night of just pure unbridled stupid laughter like that. And I have needed that for SOOOO long. Man! We were just dorks. It was beautiful. All of our MySpace pages are full of references to private jokes born of that night that probably aren't even funny. But we don't care. It fueled our hysteria and it will continue to do so until we are beating it dead on the ground. Such is the madness of our ilk.

At one point, I figured it must be getting close to midnight. I checked the clock to see it was 2:30am. And I had to get up for church in the morning!!! I don't stay up that late any more. I'm a suburban MOM, for the love of Pete!

So I cabbed it back to my hotel and spent a totally restless hour or so in my bed until I finally passed out around 4:30am. When the alarm went off around 9:30am, I thought, yah, this is absolutely the way to kick my illness. Not. But I wasn't going to miss my old church service. No way.

I jumped back on the T (subway again) and headed out to the area where we last lived before moving to Texas. The beautiful Alicia and Kristen picked me up at the T station and off we went to church. Now, I was a bit worried that Kristen's first experience with my old church wouldn't be stellar. I was praying for the head pastor to speak and the main worship band to play. That's the killer combination. We got there and saw that the head pastor was not scheduled to speak and I was bummed. We went and got bagels and drinks and met up with the effervescent Trish and her wonderful hubby. When we went into service, we were pleasantly surprised to see the head pastor DID speak. YEAH God! This guy is one of the most engaging and interesting speakers I've ever heard. And that hadn't changed since 2005. The worship team was not the A team but they were good and God uses the music no matter who performs it. So why was I worrying?

So pastor Dave introduces today's topic. Dating. We all had to laugh. They're all married and now I'm on the brink of having to enter the dating world again soon. So I thought in my head, "Ok God. Funny." But let me tell you, you didn't need to be single to get something from this lesson. Honestly, I was blown away by how God just notched the arrow and POW! right between my eyes! After the sermon, during the first worship song, I was standing there just going, "Wow God. You are AMAZING!" Blew my mind. Not only did the lesson really give me some insight into my own failed dating and marriage scenario. But it also put into perspective a little crush I've been having since last October. And by "little" I mean, pretending it's little while it actually has consumed a HUGE part of my heart. You women know what I mean. But I've been praying about this particular guy and I know it can't possibly go ANYwhere. And I tell God that. But still, I keep leaving the door open to it and trying to pursue it. Yes. I am human. Hear me squeak. So yesterday, God just highlighted all of the red flags he had already posted all around me that I was pretending weren't there. It really was quite humorous. I love the way God doesn't just slam me to the ground with painful lightening bolts. The lesson I got yesterday really was quite funny to me. But really quite serious.

So during the ending worship songs, there was this one I LOVE. And I was trying to just belt it out. I had to stop mid belt because the sheer hugeness of God's little tap on the shoulder and the beauty of the song just got me. And as I've mentioned before, I'm not a pretty crier and I can't sing when crying. I just let it all go. Lost it. My wonderful Trish very quietly bent down and then stuffed about 5 tissues into my hand. Bless you Trish.

After church, I sat with my wonderful girly entourage and told them about my epiphany. Twas good to get it off my chest and confide in wonderful people.

The rest of the day was spent at Alicia's house. Her hubby Art was there. Kristen, A and R all showed up soon after and then it was an event! Alicia cooked the afternoon away for us all. I actually ate a huge meal of ham, wonderful mashed potatoes and green beans. I even ate dessert! So I guess we can assume my stomach is all better.

Alicia drove me back to my hotel where we sat in the car and I vented a bit about life (and by "life", I mean my divorce). She has been one of my dearest friends forever, it seems. She has had to hold me up through quite a bit of this. I love her and Kristen so much for that. And Trish, too. I don't know what I would do without the pillars of friendship God has given me.

Anyway, today, I woke up late. I took a long shower. I posted pix on MySpace. I'm blogging now. I'll finish up and head back out to the B.U. area for breakfast (gotta have those pancakes now that my tummy will accept them). I'll visit with a few more friends I didn't get to see and then head back to the hotel area for dinner with another wonderful friend. Then, hopefully it's early to bed and early to catch my plane tomorrow.

I am so incredibly lucky. Not only did I have a blast. But God gave me a very gentle and humorous lesson. Very clear. Yes, another neon sign that I was trying to pretend I didn't see. Why he is this patient with me, I will never know.

Y'all rock. I will be back in the land of smiling people that actually make eye contact soon. Hope I haven't digressed to my cold introverted no-eye-contact self too much by then.

Smooches...