Yesterday�s trip to campus ended up being much more fun and much less productive than I expected. But it�s summer, so I�m having a hard time feeling too awful about that. I met my friend H. after she got off work and we enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon walk, which completely contradicted my anonymity comment from yesterday. We ran into all kinds of people I knew, most of whom I was extremely glad to see. I had the chance to talk to a friend�s wife with whom I�d communicated by e-mail, but otherwise had only ever seen at her wedding and mine (not the best opportunities for conversations) and met their now one-year-old baby for the first time. Her husband used to be in my department, but evacuated in favor of a far more lucrative career with computers. He sang in one of the choirs I conducted after that and we lived in the same apartment building for a while, so we stayed in touch.

Inspired by on-the-street meetings, I called up my friends M. and B., who happened to be home, so I took H. with me and we went up for a visit. M. and B. are a gay couple more than a decade older than me. I met them when they joined an amateur choir I was conducting one summer and they virtually adopted me. They are some of the most interesting people I know. They both work with computers by day, but they are mostly interested in retiring as soon as possible in order to spend more time reading � they have both been involved with the University�s Great Books program � and listening to/studying music. M. regularly organizes workshops on a variety of topics that interest him, not because he thinks of himself as some kind of expert, but because he truly loves these things and wants others to like them too. He ran a film series for a while. He has a knitting group. And currently, he�s running an opera workshop. In another era the would most likely have been running a salon of some sort. Most importantly, though, they are the warmest, most generous people I have ever met. They will always be your biggest cheerleaders. They always remember to call me on my birthday, even when I haven�t seen them in a long time. When I was suffering the after-effects of a particularly ugly breakup, they were the first people I called for sympathy. They didn�t say any of the wrong things, only coddled me and distracted me for a few days until I was feeling better. Whenever I have introduced them to any of my friends or relatives, all parties have been enchanted with one another. There is always room for more interesting friends in their lives, and their friends will always feel like they are among the most important people to them.

Friendship like that is such a gift. Their warmth and happiness is infectious. It makes me feel like a better person just to be around them. Their lives are not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination. There has been family strife and B. is HIV positive and has had some serious health setbacks in recent years, but they do not let their problems govern their lives.

Yesterday was the first time I�d seen M. and B. in the flesh in a year, although we communicate regularly by e-mail. The visit improved my whole day and H. and I were in quite high spirits when headed to our book group. We had a fantastic discussion about Eugenides Middlesex, which everyone liked � possibly a first for this group. There was some bad news (a member�s boss and friend had just been killed in a rafting accident) and good news (another member is expecting her first baby) and much hilarity and absolutely incredible food. I�m having trouble getting back to work today. I�m still feeling a little drunk after the gluttony of a day with good friends and the best lemon tart I�ve ever eaten.

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