Overheard at Indigo Moon.....

Yesterday was one of those almost perfect days we sometimes are lucky to experience. I went to Madison for the day. That alone is usually a guarantee of a perfect day; I love Madison. What made the trip even better was the fact that we went to Madison to hook up with great friends who moved to California three years ago. I've been to visit them twice in Napa Valley since they moved. It's pretty much an annual pilgrimage. I mean, aren't they great friends? They moved to a place like Napa Valley, so it isn't exactly a sacrifice on my part to go visit.

Now, my husband has not seen them since they moved. He refuses to get on an airplane, and life has not been such that we could drive cross country to visit. In fact, it would seem that both my husband and the male half of this friendship duo hadn't really communicated all that much since their move, both thinking the other was upset and therefore, not bothering to initiate email communication--despite the urgings of at least one of the wives to "get over it." So getting together yesterday allowed them to get that aired out. Three years to come to the understanding that they were just being typical guys, I suppose that's not too horrible, is it?

You need to understand that this friendship really does cross the depths of each other's mutual stupidities and eccentricities. Our friends were in Madison because their older son has graduated college and taken a job back in the midwest. I'd already told them we don't need much excuse to make a trip to Madison, so when the call came over the weekend, we were good to go. Problem was, where would we connect? State Street, of course. I suggested a funky little coffee shop, Dancing Grounds on Gorham Street, just off State.

So, perfectly timed, we arrived. Where was Dancing Grounds? It's not there anymore! One of the "eccentricities" we own, according to our friends, is the fact we don't own a cell phone--- something that was making a lot of sense to us right then. Never fear. There was a coffee house right across the street, the "Fair Trade Coffeehouse." They would KNOW that these blue-staters stuck in a red corner of the state would naturally head to a place so-named. We were already crossing the street when Julie hollered at us. This is the kind of thing they tolerate in us, the sort of thing where you give them the name of a now-closed coffeehouse, with no means of contact in case of emergency--and they will refer to it as "charmingly eccentric," though I have no doubt he will mutter under his breath about the annoyance.

Together again, we hugged and started talking pretty much non-stop over the day, as we sipped coffee, looked in the windows of the State Street shops, sat on the patio of Memorial Union, plugged parking meters and sat once more over coffee, this time on Monroe Street. While wandering Monroe Street, of course Julie and I had to stop in at Indigo Moon, a place I visit when I'm in Madison to work with my storytelling coach, looking for bargains on cool "storytelling clothes." We talked with the owner, oohed and ahhed at the cool clothes, and at one point, I made a comment to Julie that "I can't buy anymore storytelling clothes until I get more storytelling jobs." The owner asked me what kind of storytelling. I told her, adding that there are plenty of great tellers right in Madison. She said, "I know," but still asked me for my card. I handed it to her, telling her the email is wrong. She simply said, "That's alright, I prefer to talk on the phone."

So who knows? Maybe she'll call someday, maybe she won't. Maybe I can take my pay in cool clothes, which would cut out one step in the usual process, anyway. The true joy of the day was time well spent with now-distant friends. Distant in miles, but not in heart.

***By the way, I DO have some storytelling jobs coming up. I just didn't buy any new clothes for them yesterday.

July 28, Myrick Park, LaCrosse 2:00pm--Warm up for Hans Mayer's last performance in the area
August 19, Riverside Park, LaCrosse, Sand Sculpting Festival (11am-1pm)
September 11, Halfway Creek Church, Holmen
September 15, Grounded Coffeehouse, LaCrosse (4:30)
September 16-17, 3rd Annual LaCrosse Storytelling Festival, Pettibone Park
September 18, Founders Days, West Salem