When I Need A Pick Me Up, by my friend Ryan King

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Between The Moon And New York City

(Originally 4/11/07)

I have been invited by Childhood Bud's sister, who has also made guest appearances here as the other "Childhood Bud", to a black-tie affair this Friday in midtown Manhattan.

Woooo-HOOOO!

I believe that through my experiences with My Hero that I've become a lot more receptive to taking friends' invitations for social events. I've called my friends out of the blue, become more sociable when I get phone calls, and have bopped out of the house to go meet people just to say "Hi!". Big big plusses for me that make me very happy. Successes that I haven't enjoyed, or even saw the merit of enjoying, for years and years. Even when I lived in NYC, I would stroll up and down avenues by my lonesome and call that a social life.

So as soon as I got the invitation, I leapt at it.

Now, here's the rub. Childbud Bud, hold onto your seat. And do NOT tell your sister to come here and read this. She is infrequent here--needs reminds to come read this every 6 months or so. Which is FINE with me. Especially now.

You know those longterm sitcoms where a male and a female friend will say, "If when we're 40 yrs old we haven't found a husband or a wife, lets marry each other." (Smartass twenty-something TV writers think they'll have their crap together by 40, so they have their perky little twenty-something TV characters say some blase' crap like that as if it were no big thing)

Well, no, me and Childhood Bud II have not had this conversation, but somehow ... somehow it's in my mind. She's one of my heroes, for sure. I cited her as such in my Heroes post many months ago before I met the Superhero. Well, over the years I've been peripheral in her life. I've popped in and out during her life phases. I was there when she announced her pregnancy with her first child (now a twenty-something college graduate), and I was there at said daughter's graduation dinner celebration. Gave the evocation at the dinner, in fact. Surprised myself with my 1) willingness to be there, and 2) ability to pray and address all those fancy upperclass people with a degree of competency. She and I communicated when I had girlfriends and when she had boyfriends. She and I communicated when we were both out of relationships and like Lola and Shoeless Joe in Damn Yankees, commiserated together.

And now we're going to trip the light fantastic at a black tie affair, as we're in our forties, with no one especially available to us. And I've been very vulnerable to romance lately. And there will be dancing. And I think if "Kiss of Life" comes on or "After All", and we're on the dance floor, I might do something irresponsible and impulsive.



And I'm wondering if after all this time, if that's not just okay.

Childhood Bud, I will officially excommunicate you if you direct your sister to this blog. And you know I can do it--that antisocial little troll that I can be is always right under the surface, constantly craving to break the skin.

Because I'm just saying. After all the years and all the girls ... it might just be better for me to settle into what I already know. It just might be what real love actually is.

I. am. just. saying.

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