I went out to dinner with my cooking club ladies last night in Avondale, which is pretty far from my usual Jax stomping grounds. We went to Biscotti's which has pretty darn good bistro food and finger-lickin' (and plate-lickin') good desserts. I went to the restroom before we ordered and as I came out, I saw a guy with a cast on his leg, looked up to his face and realized it was Max, a friend of a friend. I went over to say hi and Dave showed up to have dinner with Max, whereupon he gave me a hug and a cheek kiss, which I have to say I'm a big fan of the cheek kiss. It makes you feel special. Anyhow, here were Max and Dave in a place I didn't expect to see people I know -- ok, so this is their stomping grounds, but I had forgotten that.
I went back to my table of women and had a lovely last dinner with them -- I'm TOTALLY going to miss my monthly gossip with them...oh, and I suppose some DE-lish-us food. And I'm thinkin' Rosemary just might be missin' living vicariously through me...because we ALL know the info she wants will NOT, I repeat, NOT be posted on here.
As we finished our main meal, a few of us headed to the dessert window to choose from the mile-high ganache, layered berry cakes, fluffy mousse cakes, and other assorted lip-smacking delectables. I, yet again, walk past a table with another man I know! Except, this man is really out of place. I mean to tell you, I met him in Maine! Yeah, Maine is a little far from Florida.
Ok, so let's step back for a moment. I live in Jacksonville, Florida. Jacksonville, for those of you who don't know, is a Navy town. There are 2, count them, 2, Navy bases in Jacksonville, which makes for a whole lot of Navy peeps. And, ok, so maybe I dated 2 Navy men in my 4 years here, both of whom left -- one to Hawaii and one to Maine -- so I've met my fair share of Navy peeps from other places, while giving the long-distance thing a go.
Right, so, back on track here. Man, my ADD is at it's all-time peak. Ahem.
So, I see the Godfather (think Top Gun - Pete Mitchell, Maverick), but I can't remember his real name. However, I tend to be an unabashed woman, so I walk up to him, re-introduce myself and say, "Aren't you the Godfather?" And this leads me to another hug...and I mean a bear hug. The Godfather is a good hugger. I enjoy good hugs as much as cheek kisses. Maybe more.
The Godfather is having dinner with Big Lovin', who I've never met before but have heard many stories about. I was happy to meet him, even though I couldn't exactly recall one of these stories.
That's a bad thing about me - I remember stories, but can't put them to the person once I meet them until someone says, "Yeah, remember I told you that story about..." And then the light bulb goes on.
Ok, but the point is, this has been happening to me a lot in Jax lately. Running into people I know. Like at the Gate River Run, where I saw a TON of people I knew, which ain't bad considering there only, oh, you know...18,000 people running it.
But it still just makes me realize, in the 4 years I've been here, I've made friends. And while the Navy folk have this bad habit of just picking up and moving after you become friends, they also have this FANtastic way of magically re-appearing...3 years later. This is not to say that I don't have "permanent" friends here. The River Run people were all from here.
It's just to say that after growing up in a town of 1200 and needing that sense of small community, I've found it. Which is also to say, I am going to be homesick for Jax, regardless of my house. Because, this is where I've made MY life.
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