solarpoweredlife: A wacky start to 2009

Last night was a long night -- a friend's party, fireworks at midnight, and then a funny string of events after I left for home around 2am...

Driving over the bridge from Philly to home, I saw a friend of mine standing at the base of the bridge. No winter coat, about a 9* windchill temp, shivering. I made him get in the car. He was w.a.s.t.e.d.!

I tried to figure out where his girlfriend and buddies were, but I wasn't sure if they were already home or still at the bar. His slurring and inability to put together a complete sentence didn't help. My friend didn't have his keys, so I couldn't drop him off at his/his GF's house (she wasn't answering) or his parents' house. I thought we should try to go back and pick everyone up at the bar, but since we couldn't get a hold of them, we didn't know where they were. So he crashed at my house. I got him settled on the sofa, and I went to bed. That was 3am.

At around 5am, he drunkenly creeps/stumbles up to my room, gently wakes me up, and proceeds to mumble something about a guy and his daughter being here to buy my house. They want to know how much I'm asking. What? Go back to sleep, D. No, they were here and want to know how much you want for the house. It's not for sale. No one's here. Go back downstairs and go to sleep. He stumbles down the stairs and back to the sofa.

10 minutes later, same thing all over again. D, I still need to sleep. No one's here, the house isn't for sale. He asked how much you want for the house. I told him it's not my call, I'd talk to you. D, no one's here. Go back to sleep. 150? 175? It's for his daughter -- she's 22 and just graduated from college. How much should I tell him? Tell him 200. Now go back to sleep. He stumbles down the stairs again and back to the sofa.

At some point I'm pretty sure I heard him fall off the sofa.

I wake up at around 9am and he's moving around. Swears he's not hungover, and amazingly remembers me picking him up on the bridge and clearly remembers the people coming to buy the house. I am now convinced he's still drunk. I asked him if he ever heard from his GF or friends. Nope. I walk up to get coffee and bagels, and he falls back to sleep.

After a while, I'm ready to get out of the house. With the temps around 25* or colder, I bundle up and head out for a run. I started 2009 with a cold, windy, sunny 5 miler, and even though I was tired from the long night, I enjoyed soaking in the sunshine and breathing in the crisp air.

D was awake when I got back, and we started piecing together how he got separated from everyone else last night. He finally heard from his girlfriend, and we laughed about the events of the evening/early morning as I drove him home.

What a wacky start to 2009!

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Dressed for the party!