busy two weeks

for some reason the story has moved to a different part of the family. joanie's pericarditis, then last saturday night spent bowling with tom and keely and fred and julie and jeff julie's brother. we conceived the idea of doing a movie night tonight to see Goodbye and Good Luck (which I'll review--marvelous film) with fred and jeff and mary kay jeff's wife. then all drove over to pagliacci near lake forest park and sat around and jabbered and laughed. keely is so incredible. she has the calm watchfulness of her dad, and his and her mom's eloquence and humor. watching tom and jeff talk was also a happy goal successfully completed.

fred of course is one of barb's most beloved friends and he's become one of mine too. as is julie. first time we ever met julie was many many years ago when barb and i got stoned for the first time in a long time. barb decided she'd better go lie down. i was there to meet with fred and his "new girlfriend." i also remember it was the traditional opening-of-boating-season foofaraw down at the montlake cut, and we could kind of see that far from the porch of barb's and my first house. so fred (whom i barely knew--and was before-he-stopped-partying fred, a sometimes very different bird) showed up with this absolutely crazy blonde woman. it's interesting that my first impression of julie, like it was with joanie franks, was that she was completely hilarious. she's also gentle, and very affectionate. some time ago after a close friend died of aids, she became a buddhist and a far more devout practitioner than barb is or i am (though we talk freely abot it with her, and she's one of the less judgemental people i know). and she and fred interact in that same really beautiful, warm, funny way--couples that tease each other and make each other laugh always seems basically healthy to me.

and jeff is in some ways the more outgoing version of his sister. he came to seattle with nothing, hit it big with mccaw cellular, and is (though he's politically conservative) almost completely unaffected about it. mary kay always dazzles me on those infrequent occasions i'm with her. (god, another one that got me with laughter!) i also know that she and jeff went through one of the most horrible things that can happen to anyone--their really beautiful son andrew was diagnosed with bad leukemia when he was (i think) 12 and died of it when he was 14. i admire them for living basically happy and positive lives with their remaining two kids and for acknowledging that a day doesn't go by that they don't grieve.

so this is, like, what--three out of four weekends with this branch of the family (counting seeing meredith & frank, tom & betha, and fred & julie all at the birthday party). it makes me so happy to be around them. and it's great to see barb so happy and comfortable, because she shines so bright that way.

man, i gotta take a breather. it's been intense around these parts. everyone at work really into hallowe'en, not me but I have an idea. job interview on tuesday, got lost trying to find wayne's office after but grabbed him for lunch. wednesday night saw eric artzt and went to hear joe wilson talk at town hall. which meant busing home, when the weather's turned to shit all of a sudden (the bad kind of seattle weather: it blows, it rains, it's cold). barb drove me in yesterday so i could go to the job fair. started out kinda bummed by stock market dive, a "thanks but no" letter from a company i'd applied to the day before. talked to a few companies at the fair, including an adorable young woman who was recruiting for avanade, the company robin works for. he flies all over creation and i don't really want to do that, but they do train and they are based here and i'd develop some good job skills and they have exactly the job i want. also talked with two other similar consulting places, one local. so at least i have an idea of what kind of job to aim for.

so we talked through my sadness a week ago, my mania tuesday, my depression thursday, my calm elation tonight. walking is good for me, my feet aren't hurting anymore, oh happy, healing does happen even if it takes awhile. barb is so right, the body is an amazing thing.

god i am the luckiest and happiest married man in the world. as god is my witness. i have hit all the jackpots any human can reasonably hope to hit.