What's the occasion? Ana asked from the kitchen. Raylene, Jason, and I were around the smaller dinner table in The Den, serving up some pumpkin pie Jason had procured from Trader Joe's. He had just offered Ana a piece, too.

"Cuz it's Monday," said Raylene.

"That's a question I've been asked all my life," she continued a minute later. "Why the fur coat? Why the big hat?"

"Why the pink clothes?" I offered, thinking of her monochromatic run a coupla weeks ago. A red day, a pink day, a gray day, an orange day.

Then she showed me her portfolio (she's graduating from architecture school in a mere manner of months). And her recent polaroids captured around the house in in the late afternoon: a red-chipped, weather-beaten door; the shocking stalks of an overgrown swiss chard; two rubber ducks on the back of dan's scooter; and wizard, washed-out brown fur blending in with the dry dirt and faded-gray hay.

Little ordinary pictures that made for a great occasion.

***

I'm so happy Jan is here. Jan is an old friend, a former housemate, who's camping out with us for the month of April, taking respite from a prolonged stay in Stockton.

At some point in a casual friendship, the bond can become familial. It's a slight shift, like the rotation of a shadow throughout the day. You usually don't notice it until you can't remember when this person wasn't like family.

That's how it is with Jan. The ease. The freedom. The trust. The respect. The laughter.

Sometimes it's belly laughs that can bind you to one another.

Jan being here, although good for her I am sure, has been a warm comfortable lazy hazy summer day damn-I-needed-that for me. We've been talking a lot and most of our conversations start with "oh! i wanted to tell you!" or "i've been thinking about this all day" wrapped up with "do you know what i mean?" and punctuated with exclamation-pointed "exactlys!" We are like friendship chipmunks, storing up all the things we haven't had a chance to tell anyone. A little savings account of relating and regaling.

The whole week was like that.

Earlier it was seeing Erin and Tami. That is what started it. The first night we had dinner was so great that I left with tears in my eyes. Feeling connected and respected and excited to hear all about what was going on with them. Just wanting to hear them. Hear about their lives and their children and where they are now and what they are thinking and wishing and doing.

And then later it was seeing Mel (a sonoran-surprise of sorts, as she surfaced from the arid arizona desert and came in disguise to the Bob party) and spending a really fun late-afternoon right-into-the-evening with Demi. All of Sunday was a blast. After the race a group of us gathered in the back patio of the Frog and Peach, a great little red-bricked place that perches on the loud trickle of San Luis Creek. There were housemates (Dan and Robin), alumni (Jan), honorary housemate (Demi), and friends-of-the-house (Craig and Brian). All of whom I wish would hang out more often.

As I write this I realize that there is one friendship out there that I really need to repair. A friendship that I've had for over twenty years. And I love this girl and we are like sisters, too. And somehow our communication has gotten stunted and it stutters over unsaid everythings.

That, I want to repair cuz I want to bring her into the belly laughs and the lazy-hazy-summer-daisies. I want to hear about her dreams and her heart. I see her often so I know the moment is there, or it will be.

m.