Somehow a yellow jacket got inside my shirt and just stung me twice in the cheat. #ouch

Today was a good day.

Wine and bath at 3 o’clock in the afternoon? Sure, why not ;)

gongzhudolly replied to your photo: classic mirrorshot selfie.

Why is your laptop in the bathtub? Haha

Because that’s just how I roll.

In my living room, I stare at a cardboard box.

On its side is printed “The Country Vintner”, a company I have known and worked with for the better half of a decade. I have met many people and built many friendships and professional relationships by way of this company.

I read the sticker affixed to the box. I read the names of the wines it once held: some still in my cellar, while others remind me of dinners and other occasions with people who I value dearly. The sticker also bears the name of my former employer, who now feels like a distant past, a different person than I am today.

On this same side is written “cookbooks”, though not in my handwriting. A woman who not so long ago stole my heart had written it. At the time I had given her the box, I had never felt more connected to another person; knowing all the while, that she needed the box to pack the things she and her boyfriend of five years would be moving from their old place to new. I helped carry this box into their new home. I felt proud to help them. I felt jealous of him. I felt sad to go home to my place. As potent as these feeling were, they too are behind me, and becoming merely memories.

Soon-thereafter, this box was returned to me so that I could fill it for a move of my own: into my new home, which I love greatly. It is beautiful, and bigger than I need, and often so very empty. I rarely get to spend time at home, and when I do, it is so often alone.

It is in this space, on a cool spring night, that I sit in my living room and become overwhelmed by emotional memories as I stare at a cardboard box.

I was walking around the Zoo. It was cool seeing all the animals. Then I remembered that I hadn’t talked to my friend who worked there (who I briefly dated last year). Which I when I saw her a bit away leaving with her coworkers. I assumed she was giving them a ride home. I wondered if she noticed my car when she passed it?

I called her up and said “it looks like I just missed you” but she said no, she just dropped her friends off and just got out of the shower and was coming back for an event there.

I wandered a bit and within a flash she was there, fresh out of the shower in just a towel. I was a bit surprised. She needed something in the other room and had to climb up on a chair to get it, but her towel wouldn’t allow her to reach for whatever she was aiming. So, as she dropped her towel to the floor, she says “you don’t mind, right?” I didn’t mind one bit! I had forgotten how gorgeous she is and here she is stretching naked in from of me!

I help her down and she is proud to be nude. She looks at my clothes and says “Join me.” She starts walking out onto the balcony that overlooks the lobby. “She is bold!” I think. And quickly take everything off but my boxers and meet her.

While staring out she puts her arm around me and I can’t help but stare at her body. Then suddenly I hear someone call out to her from the floor below. It’s one of her students.

We duck back into the room to hide our nudity, and my friend calls down “I’m getting ready for tonight with my boyfriend. I’ll see you later.”

Boyfriend? I guess it was just an easier explanation.

She begins to put a tiny black dress on, while I notice my erection. It looks and feels bigger than I’ve ever experienced. I try to fit it comfortably in my underwear, with no luck. She notices and just looks at it and smiles, then returns to getting ready for her party.