Wednesday, October 20, 2010

birds of a feather

I biked in along the lake path to work again. Such birds there were on the waters of Lake Mendota! Ducks, geese, gulls, heron – you name it!


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Numerically, it is an unusual day. Sixty years ago (meaning in 1950) on this day (meaning the 20th day of the 10th month), Ed was born – an event which he now chooses to ignore.

Fine.

Five years ago (meaning in 2005) today (again, the 20th day of this 10th month) he and I first met. All those rounded numbers! Multiples of five! Even this, of course, is something he would not view as special or important or worthy of mention.

But I do.

We became traveling companions of sorts on that day. It is a description that is nearly perfect: we navigate the everyday in the most absurd way – two people who have not a whole lot in common, except when we agree on something, which is not that often.

But neither do we disagree.


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We think differently, he and I. We see things from our own histories and aside from the years I lived in New York as a kid (as did he), our histories don’t overlap much. I would never have done any of the things he considers important in his life and he would never have done things I consider important.

And yet, we sure as hell travel together in the most agreeable manner. And we have figured out how to get on a pleasant path, and we have figured out a whole lot of things about the other, so that different as we are, we are indeed quite good at navigating the everyday.



We did something different tonight: we ate out. And at a nice place, a new place – Nostrano on the Square. An acquiescence to the other: he, to my love (these days very rarely realized) of great food, me, to the understanding that he and I together do not typically search out great food in Madison.


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Two birds, with few matching feathers. Funny how that works.