Mea Culpa and More

My apologies for letting a whole week slip by since my last post. I haven't been extra especially busy, but have felt quite distracted and air-headed for some reason.
The Summer Reading Program is drawing to a close here; Saturday is the very last day. I am so relieved. It has been going pretty well, with far more compliments than complaints. Things should be marginally quieter during the month of August, with another explosion when school begins again.
As of yesterday all of the big fans and dehumidifier were finally removed from the house. It is quite a relief. Now all that remains is to step-by-step repair the damage that was done in the process of drying things out. I feel much more up to facing that now that the cords and hoses and NOISE have been removed.
Right now I am re-reading Jane Austen's Emma. I love Jane Austen. Although her books are very much of their time, the humor and the situations feel timeless to me. I don't think you can ever go wrong picking up Miss Austen.
Okay, I have saved the strangest and coolest news for last. You may recall my long distance guy, DR? I know I've documented some of our ups and downs here, including the fact that he, at a couple of points, decided never to read this blog again. Still, we email daily and have a great regard between us (do I sound like Jane Austen? Not the email part...the great regard :-) ) Anyway, I come into work Monday at noon, as usual. I see that DR is online, which is very early for him, even with the time difference. We send a couple of messages back and forth when all of a sudden I get this one:
(subject line) What if I told you...
That I was walking around the corner in a few minutes? That I had been
sitting at the first public pc nervously trying to work my courage up,
but now I am under 4 minutes on my hour? Would you be surprised?
mpwaaaaaaaaaattt!
Somehow I knew right away that he wasn't kidding. Oh. My. Gawd. I sat a minute at my desk, thinking, then got up to scout the place. I didn't see him the first time I circled through the computer lab, but I knew that he was probably on the move too and I'd just missed him. Sure enough, when I came back around into the Children's Room, from the back, there he was standing at the service desk! Regrettably, the first words out of my mouth were, "What are you doing here?!?!" Perhaps not the most welcoming thing to say, but in my defense I was really surprised! I spoke briefly to my co-worker, explaining that I needed a few moments and led him outside. We sat outside on one of the benches and talked a bit...I hope I didn't sound dumb, but I was nearly struck dumb with astonishment. I mean, we've been talking online for so long, and he is so far away, that to have him suddenly there in front of me was amazing! He said he hadn't told me he was coming because he wanted to surprise me, plus he didn't want to disappoint me if for some reason the trip didn't come to pass. He has actually come out to take his mom back to North Carolina. It is a wonderful bonus that she is staying only 40 miles or so away from me, so he just thought he'd pop in and ta-da! My regret is that if I had known ahead of time I would have definitely arranged some more time for him! As it is, being the last week of SRP, I don't have much flexibility in my work schedule and, as always, my home schedule is tightly commandeered. I explained this to him and I think he understands. I mean, if I had my way I would have just taken off right then and spent all this week hanging with him! However, on that day we only got to speak for a half hour or so before I had to send him off. It was lovely though...he gave me a little dolphin that lights up for my car and a sweet stuffed red toad holding a heart that says "Toad-ally in Love" Awwwww! We hugged each other, then had a kiss that got a little, um, involved. But of course, we were in a public place and that public place is where I work, so that didn't last but a brief moment. He walked me back to the door and sort of shook my hand good-bye. We agreed that I would email him later if I could set aside any time to get together. Luckily I was able to work out a little of window of opportunity, so I will be able to see him again before he goes home. I am very excited about it. I mean, getting beyond the surrealness of the whole thing, I am beyond thrilled to have him here! See how life is still full of surprises? I musn't forget that.