Good Sunday

I met a girl names Anna today, in the best way you can meet someone. More on that later.

I had a really nice weekend in general. Maybe the weekend was so good because last week at work was a bad start, but either way I'm very thankful for the past 2 days.

Yesterday I went to Lake St. Clair with some people from work. I haven't been on a boat in years. It was fun to go out into the lake and see what Michigan water was like. I got to swim, and I got some sun.

Today I slept a little later than planned. I was exhausted, so I missed church today. I went outside and did a little yardwork, and then went to the grocery store to get some things. After I got back and made something to eat, I laid down on the couch to read. I'm reading "The Catcher In The Rye" right now before we start the next bookclub book. I read for a little, then shut my eyes for about 15 minutes.

I decided I should take Walter to downtown Plymouth (about 1.5 miles from me). I walked there because it was nice out today and Walter needed to be worn out. I walked around the town square and got Walter some water from the Dairy King. I walked back to the square and thought this would be a perfect environment to meet someone in, just randomly in a park. Like a movie.

I sat on a bench and started to read my book. Walter laid down on the ground. I looked up and noticed a girl sitting on a blanket with a dog. She had a notebook and looked like she might have been sketching, or maybe writing. I glanced up every now and then, to see what she was doing. She looked like a beatnick, with bracelets and shorter hair. She had a nice smile. After watching her for a while, I decided she looked approachable so I walked over to her blanket and asked if it was ok for Walter to visit with her dog. She said sure, but her dog was old and sort of shy. So I just talked to her for a little bit, I think we started talking about dog stuff, like how old Walter was. She was nice, and could hold a conversation. Good. So, I decided I would go ahead and walk back. When I turned to leave she said "what book are you reading?". Interest! I turned back and told her, and then we started to talk about it, because she had read it. I sat down on the grass beside her blanket and we just started talking about everything. She had a Bible on her blanket, and somehow we started to talk about religion and she goes to the church I do sometimes. We talked for a long time, about all sorts of things. She was as inquisitive as I am, if not more. I love that. She's a vegetarian. She goes to U of M Dearborn. She's the youngest of 4 children. She grew up in Canton. She loves to travel. Her birthday is September 1st. She's going to Nebraska with family for her birthday. She has a dream to randomly take food from a stranger's plate, eat it, and run away. She's 3 years younger than me. I like her. She seems spontaneous and lively.

She perked up after a while and said she could really use some ice cream. I asked her if she wanted to walk and get some. We walked back to the Dairy King and got ice cream, and sat outside with our dogs talking more. I think our conversation mostly consisted of religion, about what we do in different situations. We walked more and more around downtown. She asked me what time it was and we realized we had been walking around for 3.5 hours. We decided to part ways. We exchanged e-mail addresses and said we'd go eat Indian food together sometime. It was really, really nice to meet someone like that. It's pretty easy to know right off the bat, or with a few sentences if you'll get along with someone.

So, I will e-mail her sometime this week and see if we can get together. But, just knowing there's someone out there like that is re-assuring. Being able to just talk to a stranger and hit it off like that is amazing.

It was a nice feeling.