Home Again

I found out last Thursday that one of my uncles passed away. He was 89 years old, and had led a full life, so while I was sad to learn of his death, it wasn't sudden or a surprise. I decided to drive home Friday night to attend the Saturday morning wake and funeral.



Earlier in the week I had made plans with Bear to go to a movie on Friday night, so I called her on Thursday to let her know that I had to cancel. She obviously understood and said we could do it another time.



I left DC at 7pm and was able to avoid most of the normal DC traffic. However, I did get caught in major traffic in the NY area, which made for a ridiculously long drive that night.



I was at the funeral all day on Saturday, but while driving from the church to the cemetery I sent Dee (from Date 7) a text message asking her if she was free that night and wanted to meet up for a drink. Dee said she was free and decided to meet out for a drink at 9pm.



When I met Dee at the bar she looked great, she was even cuter than I remembered. We sat at the bar, grabbed a drink and talked for a while. About an hour later some of Dee's friend's walked in and joined us. It was a little tense for a minute because I had gone out on a date with one of the girls, though it was many years ago. Luckily, though, the girl, Lauren, was cool about it. As soon as I was able to I discretely whispered to Dee that I had taken Lauren out on a date or two and that it didn't work out. She, too, was cool about it, and it wasn't an issue.



Dee, her friends, and I bounced around to a few other bars, but we eventually split off from the group and got a drink just the two of us. The last time I actually talked to Dee (on the phone) I had invited her to DC for a weekend, and she told me she wanted to hang out a few more times before we spent a weekend together. I was disappointed that she didn't want to come down, but to be honest I was more surprised than anything. Dee and I had a great time the last time we hung out, and I thought it was a given that she would visit.



I am not sure how we got on the topic of family (perhaps because of the funeral), but I mentioned that my parents were divorced because my father had an affair. In an unusual moment of frankness, Dee said that her parents had gone through a difficult phase because her father had also had an affair. However, I noticed that Dee was very careful not to say her father had an affair, she always said "he had a girlfriend" as if that was a lesser offense. Dee also said that most of the men she knew cheated on their wives, and said something to the effect of "I don't see a point in getting married because guys always cheat". I don't think you have to be Freud to see that Dee had been burned once or twice.

At the end of the night I drove Dee to her car, and there was a very awkward moment when we said good night. When we leaned in to kiss her good night I sensed some apprehension on her part, and thought she was going to kiss me on the cheek. Not wanting to make her uncomfortable I turned my face and kissed her on the cheek as well. I think I had misread her, though, and this only made things even more awkward. I said good night and drove off as soon as her car started.

I can be so smooth....(insert sarcasm here)