Four Hours

When was the last time you had a four hour conversation where you walked away feeling better than when you started?  Mine ended about thirty seconds ago.

It was a long day at work, longer than normal and at the end of the day I was annoyed – tired mostly but just needed away from people.  I came home, talked to my husband, had supper and grumbled.

I talked to my sister while I distributed an email to family.  I needed a few emails.

My phone rang and it was my friend Laura.  Yep I’m naming names.  Laura and I came together years ago as we explored alternative beliefs.  I haven’t spoken to her in at least eighteen months, probably longer than that.

She’s been busy with school.  I’ve been busy with writing.  We see each other’s posts in our blogs, on facebook.  We’d message each other, or leave comments but we haven’t sat down to really dig into a conversation.

She called tonight – returning my call.  One of her messages on facebook prompted me to call.  We chatted about… EVERYTHING!!!

She calls me on my bullshit.  She helps me work through issues.  We laugh.  We cry – though not tonight.  We are ridiculous and serious together.  It’s magical.  We covered topics from hey what have you been up to for the last two year to getting older to what to do with toxic friends to …. everything.

You would think four hours – my goodness how can you talk that long.  We did.  We just kept talking, laughing, connecting back with each other.  On my part – cause I can’t speak for her – it felt like I’d come home to find a great friend and companion.

At 11:00 I said I should let her go so she could get to sleep – she’s an early to bed person unlike me.  Still we talked on.  One topic led to another and another and another.  You would think after not speaking for so long, it would be awkward.  This is the best part – I felt like we picked up where we left off last time we talked.  There was no awkwardness, no coolness, no judgement.  It was just the two of us connecting, being friends, and enjoying each other.

So Laura – I’m sorry I kept you up past your bed time but I LOVED our conversation.  Thank you for reminding me how good friendship can be.

Diversions and distractions

Diverted, I think is the way to describe my evening last night.  I went home focused on finishing Wayfarer 10.  Ken and I had a late supper and chatted before he went to bed.  I spoke to two of my daughters, warning the middle one I was going to write.  Her response was “And?”

I was in the groove, writing a scene when I got a text from my niece.  We had made arrangements to chat last night and I’d forgotten.  She was letting me know she was running late.  I said no problem, finished what I was writing (not the book but the section) and settled in for a conversation.

Three hours later, we finished our conversation.  I’d like to say it annoyed me to not finish the book but the conversation was so good, so interesting and diverse, I didn’t notice the time slipping by until after 10 last night.  If someone forced to me tell them what we talked about, I could probably come up with a list but it was convoluted.

After our conversation, I wrote for another hour and a half.  I should have kept writing because I couldn’t sleep.  It took me till almost two to get to sleep.  When I woke up this morning, I had four short stories, a to do list, four scenes for Wayfarer 10 fleshed out, and two or three scenes for the third Defenders novel all screaming to get out of my head.

To calm the voices in my head, I emailed myself an outline of the short stories so I can refer to it when I have time to sit and write them.  I opened up Google Keep on my phone and made the to do list.  I got up (late by this time) showered, dressed and got off to work.

My evening was diverted from my plans but I have to be honest, it was a good diversion.  One I enjoyed and hope she did as well.  The scenes bouncing in my head are fuller, better developed ideas.  I can’t wait to write them to see how they play out.  I think my characters will enjoy the twists and humor of them.  I know I’m going to.

Craft Day

I’m hosting a craft day next weekend.  It should be a lot of fun.  It will be my middle daughter, her godmother, a friend, one of my sisters, and my mom.  We are all going to bring something to do while we sit around and chat. 
This is something I’d love to do more often.  It would be great to have a regular time when women could come together to socialize without there being expectations for the day.  No makeup unless you want to.  No fancy clothes.  Just women coming together to laugh and talk while we work on crafts (or not). 
I plan to work on crocheting.  I know some people are bringing other things like knitting, needlework, or beading. It doesn’t really matter if we are getting together to enjoy the time.
Ken will be in a different room watching the football game.  I don’t know if other men will join him – they are welcome.  Some of the women might wander in there too.  Not all women share my abhorrence for football. 
I’m looking forward to it and hope that everyone has a good time…