Anticipation

Just one more week of work (after this weekend) until the Memorial Day three day holiday.  Just forty more hours of labor before I can join my new friends in a little suburb of Minneapolis in an afternoon of hot-tubbin' and skinny-dippin'.  Just one more week before I can reconnect with men I've only barely begun to know.

I was chatting last night with one of these men.  My generous host for the evening of board-games and soup.  After some general discussion of weather and other news (we take our weather very seriously here) I asked him if he was planning to attend the pool party.

I was astonished to hear he had other plans.  He is going to travel four hours north-west of the city to attend a camp-out-style weekend with a small group of other men.  My reaction unsettled me a little bit.

I actually considered cancelling my trip just because he would not be there.  I so long for the comfort of a familiar face that upon hearing he wouldn't be there I almost chickened out.  This, after boldly attending the game night knowing nary a soul.

I wondered aloud (quite difficult when instant messaging across two hundred and eighty miles of Great North Woods) if I should join him at the camp-out.  After hearing just how far I'd have to drive to get there (say nothing of the return trip) I realized my foolishness.

Surely there will be other men I'd met at the game night going to the pool party.  I was introduced to them all and chatted briefly with several and a few for more than an hour.  Remembering names is a personal failing, but I'll recognize them when I see them again.  I'm certain I'll bond with one or two, probably the hosts since they will be especially engaging to ensure everyone is enjoying themselves.

Presently, I'm lining up a couple of nights of debauchery with local people or, in one case, a man who is driving in from his hometown.  First up is to attend one of the bar's Friday-fish as is customarily served here. (A quasi-Catholic observance that has less to do with doctrine and more to do with the price of a plate of perch.)