On Wednesday it took most of the morning to sort out who was going to the conference. What became clear was the other two lost interest in making an effort to go for the three days once they realized that Eve and I had already made our arrangements. We didn’t fight it but we’re tired of being the people who pick up the slack.
We drove out that afternoon--a couple of hours on the road--and set up the booth. The next day was long. Eve is a natural at starting conversations with strangers, and she’s approachable in a way I wish I was. I did my best but she had to shoulder the bulk of the interactions. By the end of the day every introverted cell in my body was screaming to be left alone for awhile. We went back to our rooms and agreed to take an hour and a half before meeting for the hotel’s complimentary happy hour.
I poured a glass of Diet Coke, shed my clothes and climbed under the covers. I was pretty happy when I found some figure skating championships to watch but then… Then I scanned further on the program guide and saw two words I didn’t think I’d ever see again: cliff diving.
Cliff diving!
Back in the days of three television channels, I watched “Wild World of Sports” on the weekend. Ski jumping was good. So was figure skating. And the lumberjack games were a rare treat. But the best was cliff diving. Part of the appeal was the beautiful locations. All that bright sunshine and blue water crashing against jagged cliff walls. Mostly, the appeal was the craziness of the divers who thought it was a good idea to balance by their toes before jumping off a cliff backward and landing in frothy water almost a hundred feet below. Oh man, I've missed it.
That night we had dinner with one of Eve’s cousins who lives nearby. Eve talks about family a lot so I’ve learned a lot of names and become familiar with a lot of stories. It was easy to follow their conversation. This summer they are having a cousins reunion. “Put the date down and come along,” her cousin told me. “You’re an honorary cousin now.” That was nice of her. Unfortunately I already have plans that weekend--to take care of Izzy.
The other two from the office drove out on Friday. They arrived before the exhibition hall opened to the public. We didn’t even let them take their coats off before we started telling them where everything was, including their lunch tickets and where the complimentary sodas were kept.
“You two really want to get out of here,” one commented.
Not only that, we never want to have to do this again, I didn’t say.
When we arrived back at the office, Eve and I tried to figure out how to submit our expense report. It’s done electronically and it’s a nightmare. We couldn’t figure it out. We’ll try again Monday.
I went to Mica’s after work and picked up a new computer monitor I ordered a couple of weeks ago. I had it shipped to her house because she could be there to sign for it. I stayed a little while. Caught up on the news and gossip, and took the little white dog for a walk.
After I dropped off everything at home, I went to Blaine’s. He proved his interest in me is still strong by watching all the cliff diving videos I could find on YouTube.
I slept an unheard of 12 hours. Usually I’m lucky if I can sleep half that a night. I told Blaine I needed fresh air and movement. It was sunny and a reasonable temperature but there’s too much snow on the ground for walking trails. He suggested we go to the winery we weren’t able to visit earlier this month, the one where we had our first date.
Evidently everyone in this part of the state had the same idea. We could barely make it into the main building. To help with the overflow, they had opened the building they use for wedding receptions. It was pretty in a rustic way, and the view across the fields was pretty but it’s an open space and it was too noisy to be enjoyable. We had a glass of wine and left.
We went back to Blaine’s where he opened a bottle of the wine I like so well and found a soothing playlist on Spotify. It introduced me to the Ray Charles and Diana Krall version of “You Don’t Know Me.” I can't stop listening to it.
This evening I connected the new monitor. Let’s pretend that wasn’t a confusing mess of an experience. Although it’s smaller than my previous monitor, the colors are bright, crisp and true. It will make it easier to work from home when I need to.
That’s pretty much everything. Oh, I’m testing out Wordpress to see if I can post from my iPad or phone. If I can, I’ll move the journal over there. Maybe I won’t fall so far behind if I can post when I’m not home.
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