carey the h with the physicist

Get it?

The pun is math-based, so I made it up specifically for him.

Just a little joke between friends.

(smile!)

We've been trying to get together for the last couple of weeks.

Let me say: it did me a world of good to talk with him about the two deaths last week of young women in my world.

He'd never met Bobbi, but he'd heard me speak many a time about the "lunch and a movie" outings in Bluffton with my stepmom and nephews.

We discussed whether I should go to the memorial service on Thursday, especially as the weather was improving faster than previously forecast.

The trip would let me have a much-needed visit with Bonnie, as she and my half-brother Michael were bringing Merritt and Conner for their mom's service.

Bonnie and I have not seen each other is so long!

So, yes, I'm making the trip... and what a weight lifted as I made the decision.

I even called Bonnie when I got home to let her know, so we both have something positive to anticipate.

(smile!)

Meanwhile, I had a three-hour luncheon with my bfe!

We both reveled in being somewhere warm.

These old houses built in the mid 1950's really don't have much for insulation, so his house has been down in the 50's, too.

That's Fahrenheit, not years.

But the barbeque joint was plenty warm, so we settled in and talked... and talked... and then we talked some more.

We started out with movies, with me recommending a couple of enjoyable ones I've recently seen (2021 documentary about "We Three Kings" and a bundle of fluff called "Santa Claws" of 2014), then discussing art house films of the past.

Specifically, I started with my introduction to "The Simpsons" shorts at an animation film festival, with subsequent discoveries of LGBT films (via "My Beautiful Laundrette") and foreign films (via "Babette's Feast"), at a tiny two-screen cinema in Northwood Mall in Tallahassee while I was there in the late 1980's.

I've been a fan of short films, foreign movies, and LGBT cinema ever since!

He thought that was pretty cool, then he'd cocked his head and said, "that's the first cassette I ever owned!"

And what song was playing?

Belinda Carlisle's "Mad About You"!!!

I found that amazing!

So then we started talking about music videos and I brought up "A Girl Like You" - but not the one by The Smithereens, but the one from Wolfgang Press, the song that Tom Jones had sung on "The Lead And How To Swing It".

I've got it bookmarked, as well as Airborne Toxic Event's "Sometime Around Midnight", a long time favorite found on VH1 back when they played music videos.

Kind of appropriate after three years of pandemic, right?

And about that time, we noticed all the other diners had left and the sun was dimming.

Time to go before the dark - and the cold - wrapped themselves around us!

Good lunch!

And now I've made tentative plans to maybe meet with the Alabama transplants tomorrow evening.

I told Bonnie I expect to leave about noon.

That will give my little car plenty of time in the morning sun to warm up.

I'm planning a leisurely drive, maybe with a pit stop or two, as check-in at Comfort Suites isn't until 3 PM.

Oh, yes, I've already made my reservation.

I'm hoping that Bonnie might stay with me and let the menfolk all stay together wherever they will end up.

Thursday should be nice by the time of the memorial.

I'm hoping to maybe have a bit of time with cousin Lynn that afternoon, as Bonnie and family will need to return to Alabama.

Friday, I'll return home, having had a little holiday away from cold...

having had a good visit with folks not seen for several years...

having had hugs a-plenty to restore my spirit.

Yes, I definitely need this.

i thank You, God, for the upswing in the weather song.