Meetup under the oaks and leaves.

[first draft]

The first I even heard of it was when I caught george sunning himself on IM on an infrequent day off...

JPennant: hey mistah G
JPennant: how are you and A
allaboutgeorge: Hullo, hullo.
allaboutgeorge: You coming to http://www.ofrenda.org/lunch/
allaboutgeorge: ?
JPennant: whats that?
allaboutgeorge: A friend of mine, Gwen, is meeting and eating with whoever shows up at Pac Coast Brewery tomorrow.
JPennant: That sounds excellent
allaboutgeorge: If you're not otherwise committed, I've got your first beverage of choice.
JPennant: Oh yah, that sounds excellent :-)
JPennant: thank you :-)

Eh, it was a free cuppa coffee and an infrequent day out. Plus Id be getting to meet a few folk who I'd known but never met.

The standing joke as we assembled at the Pacific Coast Brewery in downtown Oakland was that we desperately needed "Hello, my URL is.." greeting tags to match familiar consciousness to bodies and faces.

But, its funny how quickly the bodies and faces became just as warm and familiar.



Amanda, StarMama



Jessica, peacedividend





Jhames, jhames





Min Jung, minjungkim



Bob, artandlife







Lara, Oaklog




(will fill in the blank)





George, allaboutgeorge



Melissa (joisey goil), nonchalance




Adrienne, crazedloveblog




Hrmm, I missed folk.. I'll fill 'em in later...

In any case, there were quiet connections and good conversation..












jhames:talking about Bob's camera "Wow. I have a new item on my lust list. Whoo! I feel like Im running around with scissors trying to handle this thing."


































Good times

And then, as it was only a lunch, people got up and started drifting back to their lives, goodbyes being sounded...













Yep. Good times.

Thanks guys. It must be done again. And more.
---------------

And I said, "Im sorry, I missed your party in the hills when I was here in 2000. And the snowstorm of 2001 in New York was a BITCH. I was honestly snowbound in Staten Island, couldnt get off to meet you.. And this time around.. well..."

Min Jung, blinked, looked at me, realized that I was a much different presence than the pictures I never post, blinked away.. shock.. and then stood up..

"You. Give me a hug."

And it was the softest sweetest hug Ive had in memory. Followed by a soft kiss that thrilled me.

And then she stepped back and looked at me again.

She was pissed.

but didnt say anything as we looked at each other.

Then

"You know I was mad when you didnt.. "
"I know."
"To be honest.."

I paused, as she waited for me to continue..

"I didnt want to be just another in a long line of 'met this one too'."

She blinked again. Narrowed her eyes. Otherwise, there was no sign of emotion.. cept you KNOW that I was still alive by the grace of god...

Then she leaned over and hugged me again.

"Dork." then kissed me again.

Heh. Never knew that I could be called a dork (her word for 'You. Are. One. Serious. Idiot.') and have my heart leap.

and then we went back to the rest of the world.

But as she left, she stopped behind me, rubbed my shoulders, ran her hand through my hair.. paused.. and kissed me on my forehead.

Then, softly into my ear, said "Dork".

Love. Gentleness. Forgiveness. Heart. And the rest of feeling blessed and loved.

And she is a Tiger, so no - this does NOT mean absolution.

I was smiling as she rubbed the lipstick left from the famous lips, ran her hand through my hair one last time and took off...

This dork has always had a serious crush on the lady.