yesterday, i didn't only have to deal with the pope's death, i also had to deal with a very bad hangover, stuffing five year's worth of law school in a tiny jimny, and what would have been our first year anniversary.

in the beginning i told myself, phooey.

hangovers will pass.
the jimny has handled moving out of the dorm with grace in the past.
and anniversaries? well... that was the problem.

see, it's been a while since i celebrated an anniversary. and until the major fights began, i've always thought that we'd make it to an anniversary. but then things changed and there was finals to deal with so i was cool, for a while.

until yesterday. until yesterday at noon when i was still nursing a nasty hangover sitting inside a hot car, waiting for a friend, and he called.

to ask me out.

and while i didn't expect it to push through, cause he wasn't so sure of the schedule anyway, he finally passed by my house a little past seven. he took me to gloria maris for dinner and he smiled a whole lot and he ordered a whole lotta food, including sweet and sour for me, and he tried to make dinner as special as possible.

he took me home soon after that, and it was awkward saying goodnight to an ex who was so nice to you on what would have been your anniversary. do i offer him my cheek? do i lean over and hug? do i just wave and say thank you and never look back?

in the end, he gave me a hug and kissed me on the cheek. he said goodnight and waited until i made it all the way inside the house. he called after i texted him "thank you" for the dinner we had and also thanked me for making time for him.

it wasn't the anniversary dinner i expected and unlike last year, there were no fireworks and flowers and beautiful music. but somehow, it makes me a bit hopeful that what the future holds for us will be better, and brighter, probably less passionate as our beginning, but with more maturity, the kind that only a separation can bring.

now, if only i could find out whether god has answered my commercial law prayers or not.