My Yesterday

It involved two things of note.

+One+

Really, this isn't my thing of note, but I was there, and I was incredibly proud. Greg's launch was a smashing success. There were probably about 35 or 40 grown-ups there, and if you've ever been in Collected Works, you know that 20 chairs put out is 20 people crammed in. The rest of us spilled out into the rest of the store, clustering mainly around the two arches into the back room.

It wasn't a traditional reading. Greg mostly talked about John Ward and his significance both 400 years ago and today, and interspersed it with a few selections from the book. I think it's a testament to the writing that if I closed my eyes I couldn't tell when he went back from reading to speaking. Other people must have agreed, because Collected Works sold all their copies.

Hooray!

And, from all reports, the cookies were delish.

+Two+

After I had gotten home, run to yoga, run back and hoovered some dinner, I hied myself off to Mae's.

She showed me the treasures she troved at the Great Glebe Garage Sale and the Stittsville Flea Market; we drank lavender tea; we sat on the back porch; we commiserated; we agreed that we were both fabulous; we agreed we would continue to be fabulous, sometimes in the same space, but not Together; we cursed bad timing; we agreed we were not yet dead. I talked for too long about tropical fish; I apologized. She said nonsense; poured more tea. And then it was time for bed.

We hugged goodbye, a little tighter than we'd hugged hello.

"Take care of yourself," she said.
"You too, sweetie," I replied, using an endearment I never did while we were dating.

Then a run up Nanny Goat Hill, in the dark, on the clangy metal stairs, under the smell of lilacs turning brown.