I should say this is a recap of the last week, since it almost has been a week, but we'll still call it a long weekend.
Last Wednesday was my last night of class. I didn't really want to go talk about my book, which is odd because I've been wanting to do nothing else. We had champagne and all got to say what we loved and hated about the book making. Of course, I was distracted because Mom was flying in while I was at class, so John was picking her up. I was right to be concerned. Mom was on the top floor of the airport and John was down below at baggage claim. So they both wandered around for an hour looking for one another, with no success. Of course, Mom is without a cell phone right now, so she couldn't just call him. And I wasn't smart enough to give her his number. I was obviously not in the right state of mind to be organizing anything outside of my book. So I'm getting texts from John and calls from Mom (from a payphone) during the last 45 minutes of class. Once I was finally out and could use the phone, I told John to stay at baggage claim, and when Mom called back I told her to go down there. And the crisis was over. I actually ended up making it home before them.
Thursday Mom and I took care of errands I hadn't gotten to yet such as grocery shopping and a liquor run. We had lunch at Panera and went to Rita's for Italian Ice. Grilled for dinner. All very laid back.
Friday I picked up Julie from the airport in the morning. Took the wrong road out and ended up on 95. Which was ok, because I could still figure out how to get home. It just took longer. She napped for a bit while I printed my poems and did some other organizing for the evening. Mom was very into reading on the deck. I tried to breath as I was starting to get anxious.
Mom, Julie, and I went to lunch at Brian Boru, an Irish place I recently discovered. It was pretty good, though I think the atmosphere would be a lot better on the weekend when there's live music.
Came home and got ready to head to Baltimore. John called and said he WAS coming home early (yay for home finally realizing I knew what was best) so we waited for him. Got to Baltimore at 5:00, as planned. I went to help set up for the reading, sending the rest of the gang to the bar.
A lot was already set up, but food needed to be put out, books put on display, programs put on chairs, etc. At some point, a tray of rotten vegetables filled the room with stink, so we made a run for incense. Body spray was also used, so the room had a lot going on. But it all evened out and was fine my the time people started getting there.
The reading went great. I had a lot of support there (thanks guys!). I was nervous for awhile, but had enough wine that I was chilled. I would have liked to have gone earlier (I was 12th) but someone really needed to switch with me. Of course, I was wonderful. Hopefully no one noticed (much) when I messed up. I know I did a few times, but some of them may not have been noticeable unless you were reading along. Hopefully we get a video one of these days.
Went to Dionysus after for drinks. We all drank way to much. I was singing Mama Mia all the way home. Poor John! Also when we got home we had a minor plumbing problem which ended up causing the fire alarm to go off. So drunk Melissa (though I was quickly sober when there was a flood) and sober John were taking care of the house at 1am. Still, we try to forget this part of the evening.
Saturday was mostly a recovery day. We were lazy all day, though we did try to get a massage. They had no openings, though. Had a very nice cook out of BBQ chicken and corn on the cob. Then Mom, Julie, and I went to see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Kind of cute, but I feel like something was missing.
To be continued...
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