doin' the phil

"You're feeling what?"

What?

"You said you're 'doing the feel'. So there is a new exhibit in town?"

No, no, not that at all. I'm doing the phil, p-h-i-l.

"Oh, that comedian in town that you went to years ago?"

Wow. I had completely forgotten about that. I can visualize the place, with its fairly rustic interior. I can even see him up there, flipping through his loose-leaf notebook of jokes, looking for each as he went along. I wonder where that was? Savannah? Tybee? Rincon or Pooler? All I know for sure is Jeff and I were still married.

"That guy's name was Phil, alright, Phil Keeling. I think it may have been in Pooler, but, yeah, that's been a minute, as the kids would say."

Honestly, I don't think the kids are saying that anymore. That slang has been around since 2008, at least.

"Oops, my bad. Hahahaha! That's even older!"

Yes, it certainly is. And now I've lost track of what you wanted to know.

"I want to know who this guy Phil is and what's going on with y'all!"

There is no guy "Phil". At least, there certainly isn't one in my life and it certainly wouldn't be that comedian, as I had not liked his idea of humor.

"Then why did you say that you're 'doing' the 'Phil'?"

Oh, I see the problem. You don't know that was texting shorthand in my 'conversation' with Carolyn about this weekend.

"No, I didn't get that at all. Is she seeing that guy?"

No! Forget about that jokester, would ya? She and I were trying to figure out when our paths would cross again. I'm working the David Sedaris show at the Lucas tonight, she isn't. She's working the Banff Film Festival there tomorrow, I will be with Scott at "The Legend of Georgia McBride". She's working the Savannah Philharmonic on Saturday...

"And you're working it, too! Okay, got it!"

That's right. And when I texted her back, I shortened it to "doing the Phil".

"I bet she liked that! LOL!"

Oh, you know it! She responded that we should use that as the title of our next album.

"You and she have made an album???"

No, silly rabbit, that's just her, off and running on a tangent.

"Good to know others do that, too, not just you and the physicist. Y'all have done that for years!"

Yeah, the way our tangents coincide is one of the things I love about the bfe!

"That I know! Y'all certainly don't see each other like you did when you were having your adventure in north Georgia at the lake or on that Midwest-Canada adventure."

Oh, and don't forget his birthday trip to watch the Derby Devils in Jacksonville!

"What a hoot that was!"

It really was. I wish we could still have those kinds of adventures, but he's been involved with girlfriends for the past few years. And now, now that he's getting married in the fall...

"He's doing what?!? The bfe is getting married?!? You've said nothing about that!!! That's huge news!!! Is he getting wed to chemistry Nicole?"

Why, yes, he is. They're getting married sometime between the end of the SERMACS and his birthday. So, that would be here in Savannah, sometime between mid-October and his birthday.

"Oh, my God. How could you have not said anything to me about this???"

I don't know, I guess I needed time to process it myself.

"You 'needed time to process it'? What does that mean? How long have you known?"

Well, it's been about a month, I think.

"A month?!? A MONTH?!? What???"

Yes, that's probably the reaction he was afraid I'd have to the news. That's why he'd put off telling me bout it for months, he hadn't wanted to distress me when he thought I was already distressed about stuff. Those were his words to me.

"Whoa. You have to let me catch up a little here. He'd put off telling you for MONTHS??? What does that mean???"

Here's what I know. He proposed and she accepted at some point last November. I didn't even have an inkling that they were that serious. After all, when he left Erica's house, he got his own apartment, right? I had wondered why he and Nicole had not moved in together, but I figured maybe they weren't that serious, right?

"Yeah, that would follow. He would want his own space if he wasn't going to stay with her. That makes sense."

So you would think. But when I went to his place for dinner in December, they were already engaged and he said nothing to me about her. Now, I didn't ask about her, either, so that's on me. I bet if I had asked him what was up with them, he might have said something back then. As it was, I didn't get the news from him, anyway.

"WHAT?!? Are you kidding me???"

Well, I did find out in his presence. I have to wonder if that was a set-up, like with Harry's first kiss, but it doesn't matter if it was or not, not really.

"So... just how did you find out?"

We'd dined at Hitch, the first time there for both of us. He had jokingly texted something about me "liking to get hitched", but I had passed it off. Maybe he had been hinting at his news? Pure conjecture on my part. Anyway, we'd walked over to Beach Institute for the movie. No sooner did we arrive than he ran into this woman, Jenny, that he knows... and she congratulated him on his engagement.

"Wow. I mean... wow."

Yeah. I had looked at him and looked at her and said something, then I'd left them to their conversation. When he came into the screening room, that's when he told me the details and that he'd wanted to tell me for months, but the time just never seemed right. He hadn't wanted to share his happy news with me when I was having bad times.

"He had been concerned about you not being happy for him?"

Well... I don't know that it was quite that. Who knows, right? The important thing is this: I know now. I'm really looking forward to it, too! I wonder who will be officiating for them?

"Oh, no doubt he knows others who are ordained like he is for such things."

Sure, but I wonder if maybe Cliff will be doing it? That could be quite cool.

"Well, I think you need to ask him about it! Show that you care, that you're interested, maybe even that you're willing to help him and Nicole plan the wedding..."

Um, I haven't been asked to do that last part, okay? I mean, it's not like Nicole and I have ever sat down and talked to each other. I get it, I do. I'm his friend, not hers. But you are right that I need to actively talk to him about this, because this is a major event in his life and I want him to know I'm there for him.

"Exactly."

Egg salad, did you say?

"Funny. Ha ha ha. You're hilarious."

I'm a hoot and a half, baby!
And now I need to find some papers before my 2 PM meeting with Ricky Pavelock.

"That TIAA rep?"

The one and only! He's a really straight shooter and I need to know just what is about to happen now to my retirement accounts with them. It's bad enough that my account numbers were changed with no notification to me. Now, on April 30th, some other change is going on that's threatening my retirement checks. I thank God that Ricky was going to be in town this week for me to get that hashed out!

"Wow! What excellent timing!"

Truly.
Now I must be done with sitting here, so...
later, chick!

"Later! Hope all goes well with your financial appointment!"