My Weekend: The Highs, Lows, and In-Betweens

My nurse is a bonafide bomb. She leaned over to me on Friday morning and said, real quite-like, "I'm going to make sure you get out of this clinic by two-o'clock today."

"Why?"

"It's Halloween. You've got a party, don't you?"

After three years she knows me pretty well. I got out of clinic, but I still had plenty of work to do in my office. I managed to get home at a decent hour and dug through my closet to find one of my costumes from last year. I dashed out the door dressed as a roaring twenties' flapper. I stopped at the grocery store and the liquor store and made it to the party by the appointed hour. I threw my vintage ostrich feather boa around my neck, made my way to the door, rang the bell and was greeted by my host who was wearing...

...wait for it...

his street clothes. He wasn't wearing a costume.

The party consisted of one more friend, who also didn't get the "no costumes" memo. We had a delicious dinner, watched a movie and handed out quarters to the trick-or-treaters who came to the door. It was the most relaxed I've been in weeks and I did it all in yards of fringe, pearls, fishnet stockings and rhinestones.

Saturday afternoon I ventured out to Reliant Arena for the Houston Home and Garden Show. I forked over eight bucks for parking and nine for admission. Almost a complete waste of money. There were very few vendors and even fewer builders. I'd hoped to talk to some prospective builders and get some names and contacts for my new place. Not so much. I did however, finally get to see the amazing Shamwow! which I'd heard about just the night before from my party host who has a tendency to purchase all variety of as-seen-on-TV products. I didn't buy a Shamwow, but I saw one in action.

I was approached by a stainless cookware pitchman. He was trying to sell himself, not the cookware. Interesting guy, if you're into that SteveBuscemi-MembersOnlyJacket-ChainSmo ker kind of guy. He asked me if I was into fitness, came right out and complimented me on my legs. I gotta give him credit for chutzpah. His line was much better than the one used on my friend later last night while we were dancing.

J and I were on the dance floor when a man moved right up next to her and just stood there, staring at her. J is basically a five foot ten inch tall blond goddess. He leaned into her and said something. She reached over to me and guided me to another area of the dance floor. "What? What did he say to you?"

He told her that he couldn't believe there were "...queer men in the world." If they would see her, "they would be cured." The band played "Smooth Operator" by Sade later last night, I don't think they had him in mind, though.

We saw our old (not just familiar, but old) friend, George Washington, last night. I wrote about him in a piece called "Dance Hall Nights". George told me that he was released from the hospital about a month ago. The octogenarian was hospitalized after being shot in the leg by a home intruder. He defended himself, placing a kitchen chair between himself and the attacker. The old guy was shot! He was shot, ended up in the Intensive Care Unit and now, weeks later, was out with his velvet jacket, shaking it up on the dance floor. Amazing.

Today I went for dim sum with a friend then we hit the Houston Quilt show. I know, I know, but I didn't get enough Midwestern culture when I was home in Kansas last week. We spent hours looking at the beautiful artwork and in general feeling inadequate. We ended the afternoon at DiscoveryGreen, a new park in downtown Houston. The weather was spectacular today and we sat on the steps by the lake, enjoying a lime gelato while we listened to jazz and watched the little sailboats go by.

It's been a great weekend. It's been full of friends, music, dancing and art. I've spent time alone and I've laughed, smiled and I've wondered. I'm even ready to go back to work tomorrow. I suppose that's what the weekend is all about.