They actually showed up

By the time we came crawling in the door last night, I was so tired that I only had the energy to talk to a friend on the phone for a few minutes about her evening before I went slinking off to bed.

Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Cat Door M did actually go to dinner last night. We had a really great time - we hadn't actually been out with them in months and months (they came over for dinner a few months ago but it was a group) and in all honesty, I was very anxious about how last night was going to go.

M and I are good friends - we talk on the phone almost every day. Mrs. M and I would not be friends if it wasn't for my friendship with M. Friendly, but not friends. The general consensus is that she is a little insecure about my friendship with M - I'm 10 years younger than she is, I'm pretty much her polar opposite in a lot of ways. The funny thing is that this is an attractive, 47 year old woman with a PhD and a national reputation in her field, so if anyone should be insecure or lacking in the self-esteem department, it should be me. And she is kind of flaky in a lot of ways, and if she's not in the right mood she can quickly turn an evening sour...hence my fear that last night would implode into a horrible mess.

Well, M was very clever and took her out for lunch at her favorite place yesterday in hopes of getting her in a great mood for the evening, then gave her some money he picked up on a side job and sent her shopping for the afternoon. So by the time they arrived at our house last night, she was in the best mood I'd seen her in for months and months. She brought a lovely handpainted plate and cheese knife as a gift for me, which was totally unexpected.

And M brought birthday presents for Monkey Man. M and Mrs. M never had children - which is a long story for another time - but he loves Monkey Man like he loves his own nephews and nieces. So Monkey Man was the proud recipient of three motorcycles (of course) and a remote control Lightning McQueen. M helped him put everything together and it was awesome watching Monkey Man play with his new toys. And honestly, it was a little sad for me because I know how much M wanted to have kids of his own. He was just as devastated as we were when Monkey Man was in the hospital and called every single day to check on his progress, and then when Tonsillectomy Hell was going on he was the same way. It's kind of a shame that someone who has so much to give a child never had the chance to do that.

We drank, we ate, and we laughed. It was the first time I felt truly relaxed since before my dad became sick. And it reminded me of how important each and every one of my friends are to me, because if it hadn't been for all of them (and all of you), the last three months would've been unbearable.

It was a nice night. And I'm not hung over, so that should make today relatively stress-free. I have birthday party errands to run, groceries to get, tae kwan do to chauffeur Monkey Man to, and somewhere in there do a little shopping for some birthday bling. Ka-chow!