Monday. Weekends always fly by; but, then again, they're only two days. Mondays have become my early days with Jon's continued & definite absence. 6:30-3:30. But at least parking's cheaper. Amos and I spent the evening shooting zombies in the Dungeon (i.e. his unfinished basement bedroom). Brandy came over for a while, as she tends to do on Monday nights, and it was great to hang out with her. Mandy K. and I decided that I'd come up and visit her this weekend; impromptu but definitely worth it. I already have next Monday and Tuesday off; I went straight to Cat and told her what was up.
Tuesday. Began the morning at The Anchor to do some writing. Four cups of coffee and I was a jitterbug at work who almost kept pissing himself. Stephanie, Brandon, Amos & I did our training with Rob. It was cold, windy, and storming all evening. Brandon--by far my favorite gay friend--came over later in the evening. Rob bought Magic Hat 9 and we each had a couple and "enjoyed" front porch times. It's in quotes because it's so insanely cold and my teeth wouldn't stop chattering. And by "insanely cold" I mean 50 degrees. Winter's going to be hell. The distance between Mandy K. and I seemed so vast today, a whole 497 miles, and I got to talk to her on Skype later in the evening, and I liked that I made her smile.
Wednesday. Crazy ass day at work. Understaffed, super busy, low on product, two last-minute catering orders, and the drains burst and flooded the back room. It's going to reek like rotten vomit for the next couple weeks. When I got home I lounged upstairs with Blake before he headed to Boston with Brandy and some of her pals. Mandy went to Dayton to see Nick and Mandy K. and I talked for two hours, being open and honest about some things going on in our lives. This "getting to know" one another is intense but good. We're being vulnerable, sharing ourselves, being real and authentic. It's hard, it's scary, and it's good. I want to know the REAL her, and I want her to know the REAL me. Scary indeed! But worth it.
Thursday. I hit up The Anchor before work. Work wasn't crazy like yesterday, and for that I was thankful. Amos and I stopped by Carew Tower to see Hartman and his experimental drink for the barista jam this November. His lavender milk will put you straight to sleep. Cold, windy, and rainy all morning, day, and night. I spent the evening bundled up inside with a Greek wrap for dinner and some "Lie to Me." Topped it all off with chamomile tea and chatting with Mandy K. We had some intense and good talks.
Friday. After work I ran a plethora of errands, packed my bags, and jetted up to Dayton. Mom, Dad, Grandma, Ams and I got dinner at O'Leary's, and then I decided I couldn't wait to see Mandy K. and went ahead and made the drive north, grabbing an iced coffee from my old place of employment, and I took some 5-hour energy shots and felt ready to have a heart attack for the first hour, but after that it was smooth sailing north in the dead of night cranking Mumford & Sons and The Local Natives. Chicago's beautiful at 3 A.M. I got into Wisconsin and outside Fon du Lac I pulled over at a rest stop and tried to sleep in the back of the car, but it was so cold and I couldn't keep warm and semis kept driving past and rocking the little car on its little wheels. I gave up before dawn after about a good half hour of sleep and went into town and stopped at a gas station for stale and burnt coffee and then went out into the countryside with the sunrise meeting me at Camp Grow. Up a solid 26 hours, but when I surprised her, the exhaustion evaporated.
Saturday. I met Paul and some others at breakfast, helped do dishes, and then Mandy gave me a tour of the camp. She took me by the hand and we went to her favorite spot on Green Lake and sat on a fallen log and watched the waves sparkling under the morning sun. She was kind to let me sleep a few hours, and after I woke up, we went into town and had lunch at an Oktoberfest festival. We shared a wiener schnitzel, frankfurter, German potato salad and bacon kraut topped off with some apple dumplings. There was a wedding there and all the bridesmaids wore different dresses; I guess that's hip now? We spent the afternoon in Greek Lake and then went to Ripon. A small, quiet town. Think "Gilmore Girls" except not in Connecticut. We hit up a coffee shop and I had some steamed cider spiked with a bit of rum. We got pumpkin ice cream at Mug's and went back to her place to watch "Gilmore Girls," and then we went to a haunted trail. It wasn't scary for me (I need good drama to freak me out), and the volunteers focused on her the whole time time, and that was fun to see. She led us into a room with no exit. On the way back to camp, I got pulled over and Mandy somehow talked me out of a ticket. Her social skills are quite impressive. When we got back to camp we split ways and I promptly passed out.
Sunday. I woke early and went to a lakeside park down the road. Mist covered the waters and my breath fogged before my eyes, and it was so quiet and still and serene. We went to church with some folk from the camp. Trinity Evangelical. The pastor, some dude named Jeremy, gave a great sermon from 1 Timothy 6. The afternoon was absolutely crazy, and Mandy had some emergency dramas to deal with. So I went back to camp and did some writing, and I went into town as a thunderstorm broke with driving rains and cinematic lightning. Tomorrow's my last day here; I'm sad to see this weekend pass so quickly, but it's been great spending time with Mandy K. Definitely worth a meager 8-hour drive.
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