Five Years Ago Today...

It was an unseasonably warm Friday, the 13th of January, and I had plans to hang out with a friend I had known for a few years who I didn't normally spend that much time with. Still, he was the kind of guy I could call up every few months and ask if I could borrow his PA equipment, or if he wanted to go to an open mic with me, or to come over for game night, and he would almost certainly oblige unless he was genuinely busy. He was also the type of guy that would never come empty-handed to a party. In short, he was "good people."

When he got to the house to pick me up we stood around outside for a while, basking in the surprise gift of summer in January, and talking about how perfectly the weather matched with the eeriness that is Friday the 13th. In the car, he had cheesy 80's music playing out of a tape deck and I think I made some crack about how eerie it was that we had been transported back in time. We had fun that night just being normal. We ate donuts, which he paid for and I wondered for a brief second if we were on a date, but, seriously? Donuts? That cost a dollar? Not a date.

Then we went to the pool hall/club/joint his friend's band was playing at, where he also paid for a table. Hmm. I beat him at pool on a technicality and soon the band was playing. They played danceable tunes and I like to dance so I was kind of movin' in my seat when random dude comes up and asks me to dance. I looked at my friend as if to say, "Are we on a date or what?" and received a shrug, so I got up to dance with the guy. And, yes it was awkward, but I made it work and soon my friend joined us on the dance floor and it got back to normal again. And we had fun. Everything was shiny and happy and NOT nervous.

I remember chatting constantly on the way back in the car and the feeling coming over me that this is definitely a date and I started to feel excited. I told him about Antony and the Johnson's and how he had to come inside and listen to this one song when we got back. And he did. And we talked about doing this whole thing again sometime. It was the most comfortable sort of happiness.

Come to think of it, I've still got that comfortable happiness. Dang, I'm lucky.