Days and Days...

Today is the 177th day of the year -- 7 days until the precise midpoint of 2006.

Tomorrow Christine and Matthew will cook Dan and I dinner...great not only for the fact that someone else will cook me dinner, but also because they're so much fun to watch and admire, and independently two of the best people I know. (We'll bring the wine.)

In two days it will have been one year since Dan and I met for a drink at Bryant Lake Bowl and a walk by Lake of the Isles. He wore a navy blue button down shirt and what I now refer to as his shiny shoes, smiled like he smiles (which makes me melt), and did this awkward rubbing of my back thing at the end of the night that meant he wanted to kiss me (I was too shy and dodged it until the next time we went out about a week later).

In three days Dan and I will be in St. Louis, a place that always feels like home to me no matter how long I stay away from it. Not because of the places, but because of the people - a high concentration of beyond close friends. I'll run under the magnolia trees in the park that I used to play in as a child. I'll eat frozen custard sitting on the warm car hood on a hotter than hot summer night. I'll laugh and laugh and laugh. And I'll show Dan where I came from.

In 6 days I'll see Albert Pujols hit a grand slam in the brand new Busch Stadium. Just you wait. And if he doesn't, seeing Albert Pujols in the brand new Busch Stadium will just have to be enough.

In 9 days I'll meet my newlywed 83 year old grandmother and her new husband for an afternoon of catching up and marveling at love at any age.

In 28 days Dan and I leave for a week in Grand Marais - still an interesting transition between the Grand Marais I'm used to and the new one that's being built for me, but I'll go with excitement at the opportunity build on (relatively) new friendships.

In 43 days I'll turn 27. At some point when I was a kid and thought my aunt was super cool, she was 27, and I decided that must be the best age ever. And here it comes, promising, in all aspects of my life I can think of off the top of my head, to fulfill those expectations. (Speaking of birthdays, in 773 days it will be 08/08/08 and I will be 29. THAT will be the party of the century, my friends.)