Oh Happy Day!

My cell phone beeped and I was awoken by good news. Sam got his weight watchers key ring signifying a loss of 10% of his starting bodyweight. Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows that this is no small accomplishment and I honestly can’t tell you how happy I am for this guy. Like my William, Sam is a really good man who two years ago, fresh out of a marriage to a “Leila”, and having made a drastic career change was beat down and unsure of his life choices. His mid-west family didn’t understand him, his ex-wife hated him and he was, put quite simply, a mess. I mean…even 6 months ago he sang the song of the bitter. His dogs were better company than any woman ever could be, he really wasn’t an actor or a writer, and fearing he’d never be able to retire if he continued plugging away he’d figured out a way to go back to his old job in a way that he could manage. But today…he’s happy, and at peace with himself. He’s finally losing the weight he’s been unsuccessfully trying to shed for the past two years…has a new love in his life flying nary a red flag…and he’s excited about his career prospects. He sent me a photo of he and his new lady and you can just see it written all over his face. Everyone loves a success story…particularly when it’s happening to a good friend. Congratulations Sam…you deserve it!

This afternoons lunch date with Mary didn’t happen as she is experiencing some car trouble, but that was OK with me as I didn’t get to bed until 5am having stayed up most of the night chatting with Lydia. She took me to her favorite burrito stand. It’s the kind of place where a couple of blond Caucasian girls stand out like a sore thumb. It was the best burrito I’ve had since spending a summer doing an internship in the R&D department of the Dole salad processing plant in Salinas. Real slow cooked chicken, pinto beans, fresh lettuce, and spicy hot chili sauce all wrapped up in a giant tortilla. I was in heaven. Leila would never go to a place like that. Not in a million years. She’d think it too dirty and funny enough…I’d bet dollars to donuts that place is cleaner than the Taco Bell crap she finds so superior...and it certainly didn’t cost as much as the garbage Toxic Hell dishes up. Next time…I’m going to try the tacos…or maybe the enchiladas.

After dinner we headed back to her place and as we were sitting on the couch with a bottle of wine deconstructing that fiendish message from William my phone rang. It was him. He told me what happened on Friday night, and I wont bore you with details but it essentially boiled down to him having a really bad night with a couple of his friends and letting his mind spiral down into a pit of anger toward these individuals that seem to care more about themselves than they do him. And his point…which I know so well having dealt with Leila…was that he didn’t have to go out with them. These are the guys who, after only the second time William and I got together they gave him a ration of sheit about how they “missed him”. Gimme a break!

The conversation turned toward the bright side when he told me about hanging out with Paul the following evening. Sounds like he really enjoyed himself and I honestly want to hug Paul because William was almost cocky last night. And, while I usually find that to be a rather un-attractive quality here it was a welcome change. At one point he even said something to the effect that he wasn’t perfect but was about as close as it comes. “Oh yeah” I said. “I don’t know about that, but you can rest assured that little comment is going on my blog tomorrow.”… “I’m sure it will” he replied through his laughter.

(Sidebar: I absolutely love that he knows about this blog, and knows that I write about him but has never asked to see it. I mean…he’s never even asked me to tell him exactly what I write about be it about him or anything. I love that he “gets it”. And its not just that he “gets it”…he supports it.)

All in all it was a good conversation and I absolutely adore Lydia for not caring that I sat in her house for over an hour talking to my guy. Its not like she was any more bored than I would have been had the situations been reversed as there are plenty of ways to occupy oneself when not the center of attention...and I know that situations reversed I wouldn’t care if she were talking to her boy…in fact I’d be as happy for her as I am about the text I received from her this evening. Things seem to be looking up for both of us. And if Sam is any indication of what is possible then it really can happen.

Maybe broken birds can find their wings and learn to fly again.