Old, New, Borrowed, Blue
Old friends and new friends, "borrowed" friends and Blue (and Gold) friends -- it was my first two-day weekend off in two months, the first since Terpscichore ( Kazoos and Swedes), and thanks to so many friends, it was a wonderful one. A post, in celebration. :-)
Part I: Port Huron
Just as texas_tiger had done just two years before, fortuna_juvat found a way to get me to the church in time. :-)
I'd brought my garment bag with me to the hospital to the beginning of my thirty-hour shift on the Pediatric ICU. My attending was generous enough to allow me to round on my patients first. I was able to change to my suit in the callroom, with the geeky tie malada and deor had so kindly given me long ago. And so I signed out to my colleagues in suit and tie at noon - raced out by taxi to the airport by 12:45 - airborne by 1:30 - landed at 4:00 where one of fortuna_juvat's kind friends was waiting at curbside - and pulled into the parking lot at the church just in time. :-)
Click to viewfortuna_juvat looked radiant in her dress. And very, very happy. And had incredible dance moves. :-) I spent the car ride getting to know many of her medical friends from Wayne. And she seated me at the reception with a whole group of her geek friends, with which I had a marvelous, silly, geeky evening. From both groups, many newly met merry folk on a wonderful afternoon marking a joyous milestone...
2006, 2007, 2009
I don't remember the exact details of how silmaril "introduced" fortuna_juvat/inked_caduceus and I over LiveJournal -- I don't remember if silmaril pointed me to fortuna_juvat or vice versa; and I have no idea how silmaril first "met" fortuna_juvat over LiveJournal in the first place. But I was lucky enough to have had the introduction made, to have gotten to know fortuna_juvat over her parallel LiveJournals during her first two years in medical school. Of the medical side of the shared journey I wrote a happy celebratory entry yesterday. And like her parallel LiveJournals, a friendship which began online turned into a merry, marvelous in-person friendship to match, which is how I ended up, thanks to her kindness and the kindness of her friends, dancing the Time Warp with her and her friends one late May Friday evening. :-)
We first met us in person in the story she captured in Super-fabulous awesome day. Met a whole gaggle of rasfwr-jians at a grand shindig at missysedai's place ( A Lazy Sunday at Missy's). Michigan Renfests ( Dancers and Pirates and Then You Go to Jail, Postcards from Hollygrove) and SCA Dances ( To Drive the Cold Winter Away, Fi de tristesse!). Many merry adventures over many happy years, as she fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming a physician and found happiness in love. Very, very lucky once again I have been to have been so kindly befriended by a geekette such as she; and very honored I was to share in her special day. And in one final incredible stroke of luck, once the dust settles from her next move and mine, we'll end up being *closer* to each other than we are now, just up and down a stretch of I95 between Mercer and Hopkins/NIH.
Sincerest congratulations one last time, fortuna_juvat/inked_caduceus, and best of luck. And here's a toast to the adventures to come. :-)
Part II: Pickney
Months earlier, aelkiss and niquerio, learning that I was going to be back in town, had decided to organize a weekend of camping and music and song in the same beautiful country we had explored a year earlier ( The Beaches of Hell Livingston County). And so it was many old Cynnabar friends and many new Cynnabar folk who had joined the music and song community since I had left Cynnabar gathered for a afternoon and night of singing and outdoor feasting and geekery. Even two of the geeky folks whom I had just spent the previous evening at the reception with joined us as well. And it was all great fun.
The food cooked around campfire was excellent. Song after song was sung, in four-part harmony and musical tunes we all knew. A long lazy afternoon turned into a sunset-painted evening and then a fire-lit glow below and the brilliant stars high above, old friends and new friends and memories more.
Sincerest thanks to all the folks who came out into the woods to share the day with me. And sincerest thanks of all to aelkiss and niquerio, who organized the whole event really in large part just because I was going to be there. Vive le compangnie. :-)
Part III: Livonia
I had actually been there the night before. fortuna_juvat's friend generously dropped me off in Livonia at annewashere's home. The rasfwr-jians had left the door open and the light on for me. And so after an evening spent meeting many new friends, coming in past midnight with friends first met almost a decade ago.
A long lazy morning catching up, then a taxi to the airport to rent a car to head out to Pickney. The morning after, I was originally supposed to have breakfast with a cardiothroasic surgery friend early the next morning, but then after those plans got sidelined by his ward duty, some quick reshuffling of plans and I was able to swing by, pick up Jesse (and recieve the wonderful gift of her doctoral thesis), and head back to Livonia with Jesse and visit many old friends yet again.
annewashere shared homemade yummy waffles with real maple syrup. silmaril and Jesse and I played badminton (with two rackets and a paper plate in lieu of a third -- twang twang *THWOCK*) and much conversation was had with old friends not seen in far too long. A house full of old friends and good food -- almost thirty Socials I have been a part of since the first almost ten years ago. And a wonderful yet all-too-short time it was, once again.
Part IV: Ann Arbor
One of the major advantages of having rented a car was the ability to revise and rearrange plans on a drop of a hat. And so it was when my old friend C. had to cancel the original early morning breakfast plans I could quickly reshuffle to spend the morning in Livonia; and then, when his ward duty just as suddenly opened up again, be able to swing back to Ann Arbor to catch up with him; of which another separate entry will be written. And then to end the weekend with a Memorial Day barbeque with my parents, aunts, uncles, and family; and congratulate littleholly in person for the first time since on her hand she recieved the gift of a ring. To end a wonderful weekend surrounded by loving family -- the best way to end a weekend of all.
The thirty-hour shift from which I left ended with a young patient shot in the head.
The thirty-hour shift I immediately returned to began with the death of one of our patients and that room immediately being reoccupied by a little girl horribly burned by battery acid.
But in between, a weekend's respite, with friends old and new, borrowed and True Blue; and family, loving and beloved.