On my way back to the office from lunch, I was listening to Dave Matthews and realized right then and there why I love him so much. His lyrics seem to make every questionable thing I've done seem o.k. and totally normal. It seems his words make so much sense to me because they talk about living in a world where one thing is expected, but not always what works or makes you content. Maybe there are just certain people who can relate to this (we can call them Daveites) and I'm one of them. The one that really got me was "Say Goodbye" (see #6 on Crash). I've never before actually listened to the lyrics on that one, but it really did hit close to home. Bittersweetness, kinda sad but, quite frankly, just how the world is sometimes, no matter what people claim. I'll absorb.

As I returned home about 2:40 a.m. on Saturday morning (after a wonderful, wonderful night with friends), I was surprised to find Lathen pulling in the drive as well. It was nice not coming home to an empty house for a change, and I was a little preoccupied with the happenings of the night and it was nice seeing his smiling face. He had gotten off work earlier than usual. He also surprised me with the good news that he had taken Saturday night off. These weekends together are rare and we wanted to make the most of it. We knew if we stayed home, we'd find something practical to do around the house, so we both thought it best to get away for awhile. After coercing my 17-year-old brother, Levi, to come over to house/dog sit (we had beer in the fridge, and yes, his girlfriend could come over, too), away we went - no real destination. We ended up in Sioux City, Iowa where we spent the night. On the way, we stopped at a couple casinos on the reservations. The stars must have been aligned, because within 10 minutes of walking into "Winnavegas" I put $2 in a dollar slot next to the one Lathen was playing and hit $160 on the first roll. That's not all.... I hit $160 again, as well as several $10 and $20 hits. Lathen hit $120. Ten minutes later, we walked out with $450. Also, at CasinOmaha in Onawa, Lathen hit twice on roulette (4 and 14 - I picked the numbers!) winning $185 each time. That, along with several other smaller hits, allowed us to leave there with a tad over $270. Not bad for us, huh? Winning aside, it was good for us to get away. We spent a very romantic evening in the Hilton lounge, leading to an equally romantic night in the hotel room... if ya know what I mean. The next day we drove to Yankton, South Dakota and visited Gavin's Point Dam. It was fun watching the fish literally jump out of the water. We headed home from there, stopping only in Norfolk to eat (and I mean EAT) at Whiskey Creek. I'm still full! Now, I'm back at work, back to reality, back to life, the hear and now, etc. etc. etc. squeeze.