2013. Bring it

Here is this. It's a link to Tsunami Mag. New Grumpy column is up. I'm kind of amused by the fact that I used to be a sub-category in the Columns drop box, but there are currently no other columns, so now Grumpy is a drop box of its own. I am in a category all of my own.

So, 2013, eh? Wonder what's going to happen. Wonder what new adventures are about to unfold. I feel pretty sure stuff will unfold. Maybe it will completely unravel.

Weird start to the year. I'm off to a wedding this weekend. Haven't been to a wedding in years. I hate the bloody things, but sometimes when the person is special enough you have to make the supreme sacrifice.

But it's in Stanwell, just near Wollongong, just south of Sydney, and there are bushfires everywhere. I'm really hoping for an uneventful drive up there, and for a wonderful event. It's the marriage of my long-time friend Chloe and the man of her dreams Toby. I met Chloe through the most fleeting of circumstances years ago. It was the most random of encounters in a club so long ago. A rambling club conversation in which something happened because when she finally said she was going to go I hesitated, knew that if she went she'd probably be engulfed by the world, and I asked for her number. I explained that I have never asked anyone for their number in a club, and she said she didn't normally give her number to strangers in clubs, but she gave me her number.

I'll add here that my eyes were wiggling at the time and I couldn't type anything into my phone and had to hand the phone to her (there is much more to this story, obv) and it was her chance to give me a wrong number. We said goodbye. I wasn't convinced we'd ever see each other again.

We got in touch. We made plans to meet again. We met again. We became friends. We have stayed friends.

It's fair to say we've been through a lot in the intervening 10 or more years. I've watched a remarkable person become even more remarkable. Not once in all these years have I been angry with her... maybe a couple of small things, but really, nothing. I've felt nothing but like, then love, then admiration.

And gratitude for the way things have worked out. We might not have been at the same club that same night. She may not have spotted me in the crowd and made her presence known. We might not have enjoyed talking and I might not have asked for her number. I fucked up typing her name in and handed her the phone, where I could have attempted the number too and gotten it wrong. She might have left and we might not have seen each other again.

But here we are so many years after that fleeting encounter and I - who doesn't do weddings - am excited at the prospect of driving up to spend the weekend with her. She deserves the best and in Toby I think she has done well.Great guy.

Oh - and I almost wasn't going to go. It was all getting a bit complicated with getting time off work, acommodation etc and I sent her a message asking how much trouble I would be in if I didn't go. My dislike of weddings is pretty well-known.

She didn't reply.

I phoned her a few days ago and the first thing she said was "When are you guys arriving?" This amused me. Seems we were going afterall. Found out a lot of guests are camping, so that was acommodation sorted. I was also told we could stay the night at Chloe's place after meeting for drinks in the afternoon, and this was the clincher; I had been thinking I wouldn't get to spend any time with her. But I get to hang with her the night before. All is good. I know this is going to be a beautiful weekend.

This is a very good start to the year.