Stay

My heart is quite simply full after this weekend. Friday, my house was full of that pleasant buzz of people having a wonderful time. I hadn't laughed that hard in weeks. People ate pizza, queso, other dips and chips and drank beer, wine, sangria and sodas. Poker was played (my table was more of a school for the poker challenged), as was taboo (there's something amazing about the chemistry between really close people playing taboo - the clues are fabulous, and that makes the laughter even more heartfelt). There was a cake with candles. And after the laughter ended, Blades of Glory finished it's last, ridiculous scene and everyone went home, WG and I were left with each other, and he was grateful and full of genuine love for me.

Saturday was relaxing and wonderful with the treat of a date night at the end. First, WG (and I must say, I'm getting a bit tired of the nickname...perhaps soon you'll learn his real name) and I went out to dinner, all dolled up in our theater finery. We found that the restaurant where I wanted to eat was completely gone, but we found a local Il Fornaio and had a rather delicious meal (that included ravioli stuffed with mozzarella cheese and PEARS...sooooo good). After dinner, we met up with Irene and her man, laughed for two hours straight at Avenue Q and then headed out for an impromptu tour of the city, which brought us to the palace of fine arts:



This was Irene's and WG's first time at the Palace - Irene had no excuse, but WG's from out of state. We were a bit confused by the random pack of people walking back and forth through the gorgeous old building, and we decided to head out after taking some pictures.

After sleeping in (oh, sleep, glorious sleep), WG and chilled again on Sunday. Some fabulous people had gifted him with more Settlers of Catan paraphenalia, so after a movie (for me), a nap (for him) and a visit to the pool, we settled in for two games. I whooped on his butt the first game and came from behind to win the second. He was a bit pouty, seeing as how he taught me how to play in the first place.

Me: Come here.
Him: Whaaaaat?
Me: Just come here. I grabbed him around the waist: You're just so cute when you lose.
Him: Really?
Me: Yeah, you're freakin' adorable, all pouty and whatnot.
Him: Well, at the beginning it was different, because I won off of your mistakes, so it wasn't as fun, but now you know what you're doing.
I kissed him.
Him: I love you so much.

We headed out in the evening to FINALLY see Superbad, despite the fact that at precisely 7 p.m., he COULD have been playing Warcraft.

Him: Hurry up!
Me: I'm changing my pants, hold on.
Him: If we don't go now, I'm going to get sucked in. Do we have to go tonight?
Me: Yes. We've been saying we're going to see this movie for two weeks, and if we don't go now, we won't go at all.
Him: Then hurry up.

He laughed for two hours and didn't once mention having to miss warcraft.

Monday we got up a bit earlier. I went for a run. Then we ran some errands and went to my parents' house so they could give him a birthday gift and we could share our generous amount of leftovers. He headed home to pay his rent, and I had a lovely evening to myself.

Tuesday, the fourth of my slightly ridiculously long weekend (especially considering that I have one day weekend coming up...), I spent with Mama. We met up for haircuts (ahhhhhh, said my split ends), went shopping (where I was treated to more purses than I know what to do with and the DVD of the first season of Heroes - I'm rather curious about that show - so more, Mama shopped, and I benefitted).

And then it was time for WG's official birthday dinner. Fast forward through present opening, a delightful dinner at a quirky restaurant with plenty of atmosphere and a quiet drive back to his place. He showed me the rest of his high school photos, and, for the rest of the evening, I felt like was sitting in a room with his seventeen year old self. He hugged me, "Looking at those pictures makes me a bit nostalgic."

"I can tell," I said, "You're not really here anymore."

It got to be ten, and I said, somewhat anxiously, "I've got to go. You have to go to bed!"

He held me and looked me in the eyes, "Would you stay here tonight?"

And so, for the first time since he moved in six months ago, I stayed at his place. I curled up in one of his shirts, lay down, and slept beside the man I love in his actual bed.

(p.s. Real World Wednesday will be along later, but my heart was full to bursting with this post).