I had a lovely time yesterday enduring Southern CA traffic (hmm, lovely?) for the benefit of getting to see friends at a business meeting for that historical club that I do. Now that I'm finally in a job with some flexibility, slightly further north than the last job, with more money, I can finally afford to go to the monthly business meetings and more fully participate in my northern group. Although I live about an hour and 20 minutes south of them, I still think of them as my "home."

We even had a really large group head out for dinner afterwards (TGIFriday's), and had a great time catching up, telling stories, and general mayhem and goodness. I missed this, and I'm glad it's back in my life again. [And I had a scrumptious veggie grilled dish that I will have to remember to order again sometime.]

The drive home was mostly uneventful, although I have to laugh at myself when I find cute neighborhoods to catch a quick nap when I'm having trouble staying awake for the entire drive home. And I was fortunate to miss being out in the heavy rains, but I did get to see some amazingly beautiful lightning on the last leg of the trip. California doesn't get nearly the lightning that I grew up with in Ohio, and I miss the lightning storms sometimes too.

This morning I also lucked out with the rain. It was pouring in sheets when I first parked my car at the office, and then just as suddenly as it started, it stopped as soon as I had my bags organized and ready to walk inside. I *did* forget to buy more soymilk for my latte at work, but I'll survive.

* * * * *

Supposedly I'll get to finally move the bookcases, end tables, and coffee table from my Mom's tonight. *AND* there's supposed to be a last-minute almost-surprise Mother's Day dinner at my step-sister's house. So hopefully with the rental truck, the roomie, the siblings, the parental units, the traffic, and the rain... hopefully I'll have an enjoyable afternoon and evening today. I'm a little nervous, but we'll see what happens.

* * * * *

Finally, a topic of some frustration and sadness. A dear friend of mine at work—her best friend died two weeks ago. He and his partner were together 27 years, three kids, several grandkids—and now they're having problems putting together a memorial service because the local churches can't get past the fact that they were a gay couple.

It's sad and frustrating to see a source of comfort in their lives (the church) give them no comfort in their time of grief (in his death and now the family's grieving process). Hopefully I've been able to hook her up with some loving and caring ministers in the gay churches in the area, to bring them love and comfort and blessing in this time of struggle and loss. But it saddens me to see her hurt by the loss of her best friend, and the family's grief trying to find a spiritual celebration of his life.

* * * * *
Recently Listened to: Tori Amos, "To Venus and Back" (Disc 1: Live and Orbiting)