Quiet

So, my house, which for 3 days had been filled with maniacal giggling and chatter, has been virtually silent. Well, with the exception of the few phone conversations I had and infrequent conversations between me and the darling Man-Kitty. I've caught up on some sleep, done some non-essential reading (Bad Crazy!), watched about half of You've Got Mail, wrote in my journal, and took a nice relaxing bath. I also went to the grocery store (with a list, so it was a productive trip) and made myself a delicious dinner. And I made a list of things to accomplish tomorrow, too, complete with how long I should spend doing some things, so it looks as if I'm ready to get back in the routine of summer. Or to get into the routine of summer, as I'm not sure I'd really established the routine prior to A.'s visit.

The quiet today has been kind of nice, which is not to say I didn't enjoy the maniacal giggling and chatter. It's just that's not real life, and real life is sort of nice in its own way, too. At any rate, it's much less tiring. So I've got a conference in just under two weeks, and the main thing on the agenda between now and then is to write the stupid conference paper. Actually, my real plan is to try to get the paper mostly written over the next couple of days so that I don't have it hanging over my head. We'll see how that goes.

But all in all, I'm glad that I had this weekend of sorely needed Girl Time. When you spend time like that with a friend with whom you are really close, it's great because it helps you remember who you are. Who you are aside from your job and who you are aside from dudes and who you are aside from your family and whatever. I've always been a person who has close friendships with women. I am lucky to have as many of these as I do. And maybe one reason I've had this good fortune is because I don't have sisters, or maybe it's because I haven't traditionally been the sort of girl who always had a boyfriend, but I think part of the reason that I've always had these sort of friendships is because they mean so much to me. I'm not sure that everyone needs these sorts of friendships the way that I do. But so I'm lucky that I have them, and I work hard to have them. And that's something that a weekend like this past one helps me to remember: not to take that for granted.

It also helps me to see in myself something that I don't think much about: that I am a really good and dedicated and loyal friend. I take that for granted, too, and I probably shouldn't, because you know, a lot of people really don't possess those qualities. I mean, some people are just shitty friends. I'm glad that in spite of the fact that I've lived a bunch of different places and whatever else that I'm not a shitty friend. And I'm proud of that.