What A Weekend

This weekend was better than I imagined it to be. I have a wonderful friend who came to visit me for the weekend. She's just awesome. She arrived about my normal time home on Friday, but I had gotten off work early to get some things done before her arrival. When she arrived, we spend the evening in together and probably didn't get to sleep until about 2AM. We visited, we watched a movie, and I gave her a gift of a CD case with some CD's I thought she might like.

We had to get up early Saturday morning because I had a softball tournament. We listened to a couple of CD's on the way there and back. We won the first game, lost the second, and won the third. It was a double elimination tournament that they drug out over one day, so we lost players after that third game and forfeited the rest of the tournament. Last year they did the tournament over a couple of nights of play. This year, some bright person thought it might be fun to have it all in one day. This may work for other types of leagues, but not for a church league. There were a couple of teams that couldn't take part and some that had to forfeit later games like us. Weddings and other church activities occur on Saturdays, so it just wasn't condusive. Anyway, I got to show off a bit. I pitched the first and last games and pinch ran the second game for a guy who has a broken toe. Every at bat I was on base. I hit a double, several singles, and even walked 3 times, which I can't stand. There is nothing worse than playing what I call "looky-lou slow pitch". At least we did well for the most part, but I'm not sure why we lost the second game by one simple run against a team we normally beat.

After we exhausted ourselves playing softball in the excruciating heat, we headed back to my place so that I could get a much needed shower. I felt so dirty from the sweat and heat. We puttered around the house for a bit and around supper time headed out for an evening I had planned. I drove her around Des Moines, concentrating mostly on the nicer west side. I pointed out some things like the many businesses and shops and malls for the purpose of selling her on the idea of moving to Des Moines. There are so many more opportunities here than where she is from. Of course, I did this light-heartedly, but with a point. Maybe in a year or so she may be able to actually make the move.

We had a good dinner at Court Avenue Brewery. I'm not a drinker, but I heard they had a fairly upscale restaurant. We first sat in the pub awaiting our seat. We got a table in that half, but elected to go to the quieter side once our table was ready. It really made a difference as it was tough to hear each other in the pub. We had some good food and conversation. We left to go to Grey's Lake for a walk after dinner. It was light out when we started, but getting dark when we finished. We walked the entire trail around the lake and probably should have just done a short portion of it, but we made it. It was great just walking, talking, and joking. When we came home, it wasn't long until it was time to get some sleep. It was an early bedtime, but it had been a long, hot, exhausting day.

We both got up a bit earlier than normal for a weekend today, but just spent some time relaxing and watching EuroTrip before she needed to make her journey home. I wish I could have convinced her to stay longer, but there is so much to be done back home for her. She really needed the time. We bid farewell before noon.

It was such a tough parting on both of us after such a great weekend. We will see each other again soon, but it doesn't seem soon enough. I thought I was too old to feel that way...but I do.