I drove down to State thinking I could get a parking spot in Pullen Park. To my surprise, all of the spots at the end, near the cul-de-sac, were taken. The only spots left had this huge sign up across them that said, “Park Parking Only.”
I drove back to the Avent Ferry Shopping Center at took the Fraternity Court bus to school instead.
I arrived in the office at just after 10:00, did some team building with Myra (re: had a discussion about “coming out” and learned about each other’s families, and the “relationship status” of the other folks we work with), and then came up with an idea for the “Swoosh” poster.
I left the office at about 1:30, caught the bus back to the shopping center, packed, and hit the road to Jacksonville at 2:45.
It rained the entire way, and I listened to podcasts all the way. A bunch of slate.com ones Slate Explainer ones, and a couple of NPR Story of the Day ones. The time flew by.
I made it in two hours — almost to the minute. My tripometer measured 121 miles.
I had some time with Irene and Maria before Susan arrived, perhaps at around 6 or 6:30. More fun ensued, and at one point Maria left our gabfest and retired to the den, where she flipped between the final World Series Game and a football game. I don’t think I ever knew she has a sports side to her.
We didn’t talk much about the big C, nor Maria’s impending trip/move to Austin for possibly two to three months while going through a potential removal of the upper lobe of the right lung.
It wasn’t like there was 
or anything, though.
We really were there just to enjoy each other’s company with the time we have now, which is exactly what we did. We all called it quits around 11:30 or midnight, I believe it was.