View Workout (Joe Uhan)
Travel snafus...then a night with Callie Alice
December 19, 2014 (Afternoon)
Exercise Type: Other
Comments:
As I was getting ready, I got a text from United: my flight was going to be 70 minutes late due to a lack of aircraft (it was coming from SFO, which was delayed).
Uh-oh.
My layover in Denver was only :40. I'd probably miss it. I called United: yup, no chance: they wouldn't hold it, and there were no other flights. The options:
A.) a red eye out of Seattle
B.) fly into Denver as planned then find a place to stay
C.) fly Saturday morning.
After it was all said and done, I chose C.). I did NOT want to try to sleep on a plane (after 4.5hrs at SEA), and United wouldn't say if they'd pay for my hotel, so I stayed.
But...it was weird. Because I KNEW that if I stayed, I could spend the evening with Callie. That was a powerful driver. And where SHE was at - having done "the right thing" as she said, but ending a four-year relationship - I felt like it would be good for me to be there.
So there it was: I was in town for the night. I continued to pack, but also cleaned up, then did some work: while cleaning up, I found my Christmas lights from last year (that, ironically, were last touched by Chelsea, who'd taken them down for me). I quickly strung them up for a little Christmas cheer, in hopes they'd get some use in later in the evening.
Callie and I agreed to hang out, but she invited me to HER place, which was a little weird. But Eric was gone (back east to FL), and ultimately I think she's really going to miss the Hendrick's Park location.
After briefly getting lost in the winding, hilly Hendricks streets, I got to Callie's at 7. We chatted while she played with "the apartment cat". She started to trickle some deets about the night before: telling Eric, and the gamut of emotions they both had, and how, ultimately he "smoked some weed and went on the computer". :-(
I told Callie I had a "present" for her back at the apt, so we headed west, first to Agate Alley for some chow and beer, then my apt. I got ANOTHER gut punch after dinner, when I found out my re-routed flight was also canceled! Jesus! But I got another one, this time wayyy early in the AM, so all was saved.
Callie and I drove back to my place and she was pleasantly surprised by glowing lights. :-) We shared (of course) my final 22 of Maiden the Shade and sat on "the awkward couch". I put on the classic "Beach Boys Christmas" and we sat.
While she told me quite a bit about the night before, I flat-out asked her, "So are you a free woman now that I can cuddle with?"
She said yes.
So I did. I drew her close to me, and we sat. It was FANTASTIC. I love that intimacy and, after how things had developed between us, it felt completely natural, devoid of awkwardness. Soon, she was in my lap with my arms completely wrapped around her. I ran my fingers through that f-ing incredible wave blonde hair, which she LOVED.
I had it in my head that I wouldn't kiss her 'til 2015...to give it time. But as I was sitting there with her, and having remembered my Alicia experience from way-back-when, I realized that there (for various reasons) might not BE another time like this.
I told her that.
Still in my arms, she turned to me, and we kissed.
It was...pretty awesome. She's a PHENOMENAL kisser...and I'm more and more convinced that even that act is body language for what's going on inside: soft, gentle, yet passionate. Fantastic.
Sooo...we kissed a few more times, and by now it's approaching midnight. My flight leaves at 0600 and I'd have to leave at 5 at the latest. So I asked her to stay over, which she obliged.
Again...I guess after last weekend, it didn't feel like a stretch, or at all awkward. I offered her some sleeper clothes, but she demurred. Safe to say I had trouble keeping it together when I saw her in her "bare essentials". Wow.
So...that's what it was: her and I together, big and little spoon. Fantastic stuff.
A refrain that would be repeated by us throughout the night and the next morning: "I'm glad [I-you] missed the flight"