msfledermaus | Going down from a boil to a simmer...

...which is a good thing...*Whew!* I'm not so lasciviously unmanagable today.
*Sticks head in front of the fan*

Last night I took a dear friend out for dinner and gave her the aforementioned Cool Box.
We talked about future plans--she's thinking hard about moving down South to be closer to family, her son in particular. Brave girl...very strong,sweet brave girl. (There's more to it than that, but isn't there always?)
We goofed off and ate burger-and-fries gutbombs and sang goofy things to the jukebox. Held hands. Toasted the Solstice with cider. Heavily tipped the brand-new waitress who took care of us. I found out the Matt Stone and Trey Parker did "Cannibal: The musical!" and have a later date to go see it with her. And stopped by her place where phone messages were waiting from her family. She needed quiet time, so I headed for home with a coke she gave me for the walk...

***
...And as I walked home, I thought about the families we have, knit by blood or by friendship. The problems we have. The clashes we have with each other. I picked some small purple and white flowers to take home with me. I passed a drunk guy with a "Hungry--need help" sign. (We'd run into each other before--I offered him a sandwich, he asked for money, and I told him I woudn't feed an addiction and left with him yelling behind me.) He recognized me and yelled, "Hey, Princess, I know you can help me!!" "You tried that with me before! Remember?" I yelled back. "Yeah? What's my name, Princess?" I screeched, "I don't need to know your name!" and stalked off.
Yeah, I knew his name, alright. Denial.

***
I stopped by a locust tree on a border between a yard and an overgrown lot. I still had the flowers and half a can of coke in my hand. I poured out the coke on the ground by the tree as a libation, for the strength to make our lives sweeter. I left a flower, to remind myself that beauty springs up in strange places. I touched the tree, whispering a wish for seeing truth instead of wishful thinking, of clarity, of letting the truth of things start healing hurts.

And I went home, ran a bath, put my flowers in a tiny vase, and lit candles.

And that was my solstice.*grin*

Ms Eff...Happy Friday!!