perfect luncheon companion (m)

Thursday is my Crazy Day.

*6 a.m.-wake up, wash, get dressed
*6:30-take Harrison to school (12 miles, 30 minutes in rush-hour traffic)
*7:00-9:30-free (except every other Thursday where I drive back home and pick up every room before the cleaning ladies get there)
*9:30-leave to get Harrison at school by 10:00
*10-12-take Harrison to the rink and wait for two hours (I typically do bills, grocery shopping, car maintenance at the dealership, and watch at least one session)
*12-take Harrison back to school
*12:15-3-free (I usually make work-related phone calls, send emails, walk, during this time)
*3-leave to pick Harrison up from school and take him back to the rink
*4:45-leave the rink to take Harrison to his standing appointment in Brookline at 5:15 (20 minutes from the rink)
*5:15-5:45-free (usually shop in Brookline--bookstore, Lady Grace for underwear, shoe store.  I'll buy anything at this point)
*5:45-get frozen yogurt with strawberries for Harrison (Alicia, the salesgirl, gives me a "sample" of blueberry every week.  I'm trying to get her a job with an ad agency in Boston).  Three Panera salads for us for dinner (T, H, me)
5:45-6:15-drive home
6:15-midnight.  Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last!

Today is Thursday.  The cleaning ladies are not scheduled. Rather than go back home at 7 a.m., I decide to stick around and run errands.  I return the 9-foot artificial white Christmas tree (our ceilings are 8 feet high, not 10 feet as T informed me last Sunday) and almost break my back lugging the box out of the car.  A quick run to Home Depot where I buy tarps to cover the outdoor furniture.  A stop by the dentist's office for Prevadent toothpaste at $13 per bottle.  Gas up the car.  Order firewood from the nursery.  Order a better-looking and smaller white tree online. 

Get H as scheduled at 10 and do a conference call with the medical school people who need advice on hiring an ad agency and writing an RFP.

By 12:15, I'm tired and needing a break.  I almost forget I have to bring the car in for snowtires.  A 12:30 appointment at Direct Tire and Auto Body Shop.

Get to Direct Tire and the clerk tells me it'll take 2 hours.  The waiting room smells like the male ward of the nursing home I worked in when I was 17.  Stale farts and cigars.  I hold my breath and leave.

Outside, I look around.  Car dealerships, gas stations, television repair shops...nothing I'm remotely interested in.  I walk down the hill and decide to take myself to lunch.  I realize I left my wallet in the car and walk back up the hill, talking to my friend Susan on the phone.  There was a time when I would have been so out of breath that I couldn't do both.  This makes me feel good.

Walk back down the hill and see a high-end Japanese food restaurant.  We get take-out there every two months.  I walk in and ask for a table...for one. 

I look around me and see what appears to be a couple of office holiday parties complete with gifts and Santa hats.  A few groups of women friends.  Two couples.  And me.  By myself.

I pull out my Kindle and start to read, grateful that no one can see the title of my romance novel.  That alone convinced me to go the Kindle route.

I reminisce about office parties past.  I hated them.  I am happy to be by myself. 

My lunch date today does not speak the entire time (except to order).  Is polite, neat, and low-maintenance. 

Perfect. 

I think I'll take "M" out again soon.