Anti Climactic

I cannot give you wild stories I thought I could, because I am currently sitting in the Georgetown library working on a take-home exam. Yup.

Since I am quite certain I have mono, I decided it wise not to engage in a weekend of shooting, swimming, dancing, and camping. Jane and Alice felt the same way, and so we went back to Alice's house in Arlington instead for a quiet weekend. And quiet it was. We got to her house Friday evening and went upstairs to rest. We then had dinner with Mrs. Billmire, her friend from San Francisco who was visiting, and two extremely Russian ladies. Mrs. Billmire's job allows her to travel a lot and she has a ton of friends from all over who are usually popping over for dinner. Every time the doorbell rings it's like we're on a game show.... Let's see what's behind door number one!

We put on a movie after dinner and then it was morning. Alice and Jane fell asleep at 10:30, but told me I was out cold by 9:30, and we all woke up at 10:30 am. Mono? I think so. We then walked to get coffee, which was about a 10 minute walk. We cam back to Alice's for bagels and smoked salmon (I don't like the term "lox" because I feel like Jewish Uncle Lenny who wears socks with his Birkenstocks and has too much nose hair). After our exhausting morning we sat on the couch and watched a weird but addicting movie called Mini's First Time, about a girl who seduces her stepdad and then convinces him to help get rid of her mother. After the movie we decided we shouldn't waste the beautiful day indoors and so we put on our sneakers and mom-power-walked into Georgetown, about 2 miles from Alices' house. We crossed the Key Bridge and stopped to take a few photos of the tourists, Jane and me. We popped in and out of shops for a couple hours and then power-walked home. We felt much better when we got home, since our blood got going and we had a little bit of exercise, even though we knew we couldn't handle a run or a trip to the gym. We ordered Thai food and showered and did a couple loads of laundry while we ate dinner.

Mrs. Billmire called the house in a tizzy wondering where her husband was because he was not at the dinner party with her like he was supposed to be. Ten minutes later Mr. Billmire emerged from his office, oblivious as ever to his obligation for the evening. When Alice told him, he responded that he simply can't go because he can't find the house, and when Alice started to recite the address to him, he plugged his ears and walked out of the room, making noises similar to what Dad made while each of his children were being born.

The Billmires are the most interesting family: Mr. Billmire works on the Hill, and I'm not sure what Mrs. does but I think it's some sort of journalist, and she is often in Africa or the Middle East. Alice is their only child, but you'd never know it. She is incredibly independent, and her parents are the farthest thing from overbearing. I think it's because they had her when they were older, and so they simply don't feel the need to suffocate her. Sometimes they remind me of three adults living together. The parents watch Fox news after dinner, muttering their insightful but witty opinions to one another, as the San Francisco friend whose had one too many facelifts sips on a glass of wine, asking Alice how to scroll through photos on an iPad. Last time I came to dinner at the Billmires there were two friends of Mrs. Billmire over, both raging liberals, and dinner topics are always heated (Mr. and Mrs. B are both conservative, but needless to say they meet a lot of extreme left-wings through their jobs).

That was quite a digression, but I've been thinking it all weekend. Mr. Billmire eventually made it to the dinner party after a long phone conversation with his wife, as the address she was giving to him apparently didn't exist. The three girls once again popped in a movie, but we didn't fall asleep until midnight this time--crazy us!! There were a few UVA people in DC for the weekend who kept asking us to go out, but once we were in Alice's queen sized bed, freshly showering and in our pajamas it was game over.

We woke up this morning at 11 and stopped at Starbucks before heading over to Georgetown, which is where I'm writing this. Hopefully I'll get to see Kelly and Charlie for dinner tonight, but they're going through rush and might not be available. At any rate, I'm so exhausted it just might be okay.