Hi there, come on in.  No, I’m okay, but thanks for asking  … how are you?  Oh, good, I’m so glad to hear it.  She’s better?  Wonderful news, really, and thank you so much for letting us know.  What?  No … not now, maybe later … who’s that behind you?  Hi!  You’ve made my night just by showing up.  I’m sorry, I know.  I’m just distracted for the moment … you, too?  Seriously?  What’s going on?  Grab a seat on the floor with a pillow handy and wait for me, I’ll be right back.  Your place is beside me tonight, and mine is to sit and not move ‘til you breathe. And I promise you will.  Give me two and a half minutes and the rest of my night is yours if you want it.

Oh, good grief, the kitchen.  Still, where are you when I need to restrain the frig?  Never mind, it’s not glowing so I’m going to assume it’s not dangerous.  Yet.  Moving slowly away …

I have an unopened bag of pretzels, five chocolate chip cookies and two glazed doughnuts, slightly stale.  Who’s hungry?

Yes, I’m back.   Oh, thanks for the pillow … I need the soft.  But what I really need is you.  Can we talk?  Can we let other folks drift into their own space and just find ours?  Oh, I know, but let them.  Let them argue about whatever feeds them … let’s just eat stale doughnuts and gab for awhile.  What’s on your mind tonight?

On my mind tonight … I spoke with an old friend by phone today … someone I hadn’t spoken to in give or take fifteen years; someone I have always remembered very fondly.  We worked together for a very long time and when she left the job it was, as she described to me at the time, because she could no longer tolerate working for the new “boss”.  Fast forward - the new “boss” fired me years later, and my old friend is now co-managing the business with the “boss”.

Funny that none of the above bothers me in the slightest.  We all move in and out of life; we all make decisions  based on where we are at the time and if those decisions change we can hope those close to us understand.

Hearing her voice, hearing her sound like a company spokesperson even as she expressed delight at having heard from me made me cringe.  With everything else considered, I suppose I had hoped for something … different.   But it’s not on her in the long run, or even in the short run of my dissatisfaction.   It’s not “on” either of us.  It is what it is, as some people say.  But in this case it makes me sad … and I’m not sure why.

No thanks, I’m good.  Will somebody put on some music?  Oh, perfect!  That fits perfectly with what’s been on my mind.  No, no, we’ll get to that later.  There you are!  Like I said, your place is beside me, so come here … I need to breathe with you.