Seven-thousand, six-hundred and sixty-five days

          Yesterday included:
          - Seeing friends I haven't seen in far too long
          - Mango lassi and kheer
          - "Menstruation is for pussies!"
          - Dresses, bubbles, and taking pictures
          - Feeling grass and mud under bare feet
          - The purchasing of lots of alcohol
          - The collective consumption of lots of alcohol
          - Pizza and garlic butter sauce (read: arterial congestion)
          - An extremely nerdy dance


          It was so good to see friends from home. I was surprised by how un-strange it was to see my school friends interacting with the people I grew up with. I thought it would be surreal and disjointing, like such encounters have been in the past. Maybe it was the aid of alcohol, but there wasn't that usual rift, that disparity, between the groups. It seemed completely natural that Ben and Meg should be talking, seemed to be no reason why anyone should think that there might be the possibility of awkwardness.
          I found myself thinking that they all knew each other. And it was a mild sort of shock to remember that, no, for the most part, the two halves of my lives have, at best, only rarely intersected.
          I'm glad they've merged so well, if even for an evening.

          And things move on. Things get better. Slowly. The weather is turning, and the bugs are coming back, and the days are lengthening. I've got my non-flannel pillowcase out now, and the wind coming through the window is mild, invigorating, and smells of leaves instead of snow. It's all turning into life.
          And I have cotton-candy-scented bubbles.
          Sometimes the world tries to be a good and forgiving place.