Fresh Start

First, I want to talk about cheese and honey sandwiches. Take an english muffin and put a piece of cheese on one side. I usually use swiss but you can use whatever you like. Trim the cheese so it doesn't drip off the sides and bake in the toaster oven until the cheese starts to color just a little bit. Let it cool for a minute and then put a drizzle of honey on the other side and eat like a sandwich. It's good, really. Try it.

I know you are all dying to hear how our meeting went last night. I've been struggling to find eloquent words to describe it but I've given up so I can post something.

So, we get there and look around a bit and realize he isn't there yet. We wait outside and a car pulls up and he gets out, D. recognizes him immediately. They shake hands and with the other arm, hug each other. Then he hugs me. He's very tall, easily two inches taller than his father. A very good-looking kid. We all admit to being a bit nervous and C. pulls out some pictures of S. to fill in the time. C. bought S. a little snake as a pet and they have a long discussion about the python D. used to have, the first of many similarities. We get seated and just start talking, after about 10 minutes we've all settled in and most of the nervousness is gone and we are just chatting.

I won't bore you with all the details, but over the course of the evening we found out they have a lot in common: love seafood, don't drink coffee, martial arts, guitar, hunting (this one was huge for D., he can be a part of their group that goes every year), loves the outdoors, animals (dogs in particular), on and on. He really wants to be a writer (!) but is going back to school to finish out his degree so he can have a real job while he pursues that. Something we ALL have in common.

He's very polite, articulate, quietly confident, loves his little boy and his family (despite a lot of ups and downs over the years), has beautiful skin, his father's eyes and a gentle soul. He was very gracious and thankful to D's Mom, telling her how much he appreciated the effort she made to be a part of his life when he was younger.

The two of them were sitting on the couch at Mom's while I sat in a chair across the room; sitting there watching them talk and joke around, it brought tears to my eyes a couple of times. It was definitely NOT about me, my heart was just so glad for them both. On the way home we were talking and I said again what a shame it was that they had been separated all this time, and how great it would have been if they had been a part of each other's lives in some way through the years. D. said if that were true then maybe we wouldn't be together. Can I tell you how much I love this man? And is it possible to love someone you just met?

Neil Finn -- Throw Your Arms Around Me (Live) -- Mp3