Clearing Away

It's not hard letting out a helping hand to my friends, at least not when they pay me so well...

Jokes aside; I'd gladly help them any day if I could, and this weekend I had the privilege to assist not less than two needy creatures. That was also a joke, they are very competent women, and are fully capable of taking care of themselves. Furthermore, one of the rescue missions wasn't even asked for, it just happened that way.

First one out was a kind of technical support, my friend wanted to buy a new mp3-player and thought I had some valuable input. (Me? A techno-freak? How did she ever get that idea...) We met in town, but as I told her I've seen one in the paper suitable for her (Crazy lime green too!), at Lefdal, we drove out to suburbia. The purchase went smoothly, and after that I gave her a ride to her work, as I was going that direction anyway. My son at Haakonsvern had forgotten his charger and watch...

Next appointment on the list was my lady friend who these days is emptying her house; she's moving out in less than a week. I told you about this love story a while ago, and now she's getting rid of everything in order to travel as lightly as possible. Like I said I didn't go there to help, we just thought a last Saturday night together would be nice - she'd cook up a pizza with mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes and olives. And I'll bring a bottle of red. I also brought my new therapy table and she had a lie down, while floating off to Indian's land flying with the eagles... So the table is consecrated and I'm ready to send the next poor soul off to Dreamland!

Obviously I won't drive after consuming alcohol (at least not in this country), so I stayed the night, and with her kids away there were plenty of extra beds. I didn't plan on staying that long this morning, but after breakfast we somehow started to look at some of the stuff from the attic she was sorting out. Short version: after 3 hours I think most of the kid's old school books and drawings were done. And if they some day want to complain about how little their mother saved they better come to me!

Did I mention payment? Well, for driving around to electrical outlets and so on I'll get a bottle of wine, and for that next "job" I brought home a fair measure of liquids as well. It's spiced with almond, lemon peel, licorice, grains of paradise, orris root, angelica, coriander, cassia, cubeb, and most distinctively juniper berries. Ring a bell? Good with tonic? I'm enjoying one right now? No? Ok, it's Bombay Sapphire, one of the best gins there is.

It shouldn't be necessary to point out that I don't expect to get paid in any way for helping someone, I simply consider this quality time with people I care about. And the discussions we have while working are priceless - talks about men, sex, relationships... Sharing intimate thoughts like that, and realize that you're not alone, that's pretty amazing. And it also helps me on my way. It's all starting to come together now and I can see an outline of a life that I can truly appreciate.