When plans go awry sometimes it turns out that what happens is ten times better than anything you could have organized anyway! Lesson learned? Go with the flow.
My three day weekend at Taylor turned into five pretty good days of encouragement and much needed fellowship.
On Thursday, when I arrived, Jen and I watched 'The OC' and hung out with Shaun (who happens to be graduating and leaving Taylor this week!). It was great to see him again, hopefully not the last time, but definitely the last time for awhile. He's off to an internship in Valparaiso, IN.
While I'm thinking about it, here's a great illustration of Shaun and Jen and I's relationship. The very first day I met Shaun he came down to the DC to have dinner with Jen. She and I had just decided to become roomates for sophomore year and were still in that 'getting to know you' stage. He sat down at our table, and Jen turned to me to introduce him.
"Raquel, this is Shaun. Shaun, Raquel's going to be my roomate next year."
I don't really know what came over me, but next thing I know I blow Shaun a kiss and go, "Oh, we've met. Shaun and I dated."
To which he replies with a grin, "Best few months of my life."
I don't know whose jaw dropped farther (figuratively); mine or Jen's. She got really confused and replied, "You what? You two know each other?"
"I thought you knew, Jen," Shaun said in mock surprise.
"Oh yeah," I said, stealing french fries off his plate, "we dated right when I got back from Ireland. It was only for a little while. I didn't know you knew him, too."
We ran this scam for a solid twenty or thirty minutes, with Shaun playing a very convincing back up before I finally cracked. We even put together a plausible tale for how we met. To this day that is one of my proudest moments and probably a big part of the reason I adore Shaun so much. I love that he went right along with me harassing my roomate even though he had no idea who I was. Every once in awhile after that we'd pick up the charade again, just to confuse people.
Way WAY off-topic.
Friday I hung out with Laura and Phil and Phil's roomate, Brad. Jen and I watched 'The OC'.
Saturday I decided to stay longer for various reasons, not the least of which was a fiction writing reunion with some of my favorite people at Taylor, possibly in the world. Jen and I watched 'The OC' (I suppose at this point I should mention she owns all four seasons) and had dinner from Ivanhoes. I adore their broccoli cheddar bread bowl. I also had a coffee date with Val and Marika, which you can read about a couple posts back. Saturday night was also the night that Annaliese returned from North Korea! It was so amazing to see her.
Sunday, Jen and I might possibly have watched more of 'The OC' while I did some writing.
And today MuTu was born.
By which I mean a large portion of my fiction writing class got together to eat and chat, two things we do well. (the other is writing! duh!) Drew, John, Anna, Megan, Kimberly, Marika, Val, Jess, Stephen and Housholder all showed up. With all that personality in a room it shouldn't come as any surprise that our topics ranged from SNL, cat pee and the merits of siblinghood to murder, writing and alter egos.
*grins*
Yeah, I can't really put into words how much I miss Fiction Writing without making it sound cheesy. The group dynamics work extremely well, and I grew so much as a writer and a person over the course of that class. To think I almost dropped it!
Basically we all decided that nothing compares since then, and we miss reading one another's writing, and we may be working something out to trade writing and hopefully see one another a couple times a semester.
But even if nothing comes of it, it was good to see everyone and know that there are writers and friends out there I can keep in touch with and get advice from.
(and Jen and I watched 'The OC')
Recently, I've been researching the language of flowers. It's fascinating how much you can say with colors and bouquets without ever opening your mouth. Sending flowers is almost like learning a code. I was pleased to discover that two of my three favorite flowers had good meanings.
White lilies are purity, and daisies mean innocence. Unfortunately my other favorite flower, yellow carnation, equals disdain. They were a way of showing your rejection of someone.
I'll let you know more as I learn it!
'Quel
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