Oh...I almost forgot this little anecdote:

On the Friday before Easter, I decided that I was going to go shopping for clothes in Silver Spring, then hump it to the Target in Wheaton. I was to be doing this while Melinda was at the pool doing water exercises. After that, I was to call Melinda so she would pick me up. Well, 'round nine, when I was done shopping and she was done at the pool, I walked around City Place (the mall in Silver Spring) looking for a pay phone, because I don't own a cell. Fiddy cents in hand, I finally found one and dialed Melinda.

"Please insert an additional fifty cents for a four minute call."

*Enraged*

I go and break a twenty to get fiddy more cents, then dial up Melinda. As soon as I start to speak, the line drops out, then picks up, over and over. I tried to slip in words like "mall" and "Three Brothers Pizza" hoping that she would know to pick me up in front of Three Brothers Pizza. Disgusted, I slam down the phone and go upstairs to stand on the corner outside of Three Brothers in the drizzle. All the time, I'm getting ragey, thinking, "If only Melinda had a land line, I wouldn't be in this situation." Of course, underneath was a low-frequency rage saying "If only I had a cell phone, I wouldn't be in this situation." So, after waiting impatiently for about 10 minutes, I make my way toward the Metro, ready to blow off this night--and jeopardize the weekend and who knows what else in the process--totally a big seething monkey. Eventually, I decide to take a cab to Melinda's and hope she's there. But it's impossible to get a cab unless your'e at the Silver Spring metro, so I went there. But just as I got there, a number 12 Ride On bus came. A sign! This bus drops off right in front of her building. So I get on that and ride. When I get to her building, I looked for her car in the parking lot.

Nothing.

So she did get my message. I went and stood out front, since a) her buzzer doesn't work and b) even if it did, she wasn't there to let me in. Finally, someone in her building let me in, and I proceeded into her apartment, slowly unwinding (and I had twined myself into a tightly wound ball of rage) the whole time, and decided to get the pint of Edy's Whole Fruit Peach Sorbet that I had bought the week before and tried to freeze my misery away. About 15 minutes later, Melinda shows up, exasperated and a bit ragey herself. Luckily, by that point, I had finished most of the sorbet and was feeling a'ight...and after trading stories (she heard "Three Brothers" and had been circling City Place for a half hour, hoping that there wasn't a Three Brothers in Wheaton, where I mentioned I might go, and even calling her ex-boyfriend to see if he could trace the location of the pay phone I called from, and if I had just waited five or ten more minutes, none of that probably would have happened) we just burst into laughter at the hilarity of it all.

As badly as that whole evening could have turned out, it's a blessing to have it end the way it did. Truly a blessing.