Ever wonder why you don't see empty seats at the Oscars? They employ people to sit in certain seats for a certain period of time and when the real occupant of that is ready to sit in that seat they get up and go somewhere else where they are needed. Seatfillers are not changing the world anytime soon. Seatfillers are not amassing a fortune. It is thankless work. They are simply there to keep up appearances . Convenience for the organization putting on the show. Window dressing.
For this blog , there will be no real names, no real pictures just real songs, real movies and real feelings . I met Cookie at a function a year ago. From August to May she simply became the person I interacted with the most. Good mornings, good nights , updates on the slightest things, meeting every Saturday or as she calls them "Saturdates" , frequent messages even when one of us was out of town. It was never romantic . I used to tell people who thought we were an item in front of her that she believes I am gay. In the NFL that might be called taking what the defense gives you. Suffice it say that I was enjoying the relationship enough that there was very little effort on my part to even hint at the next level.
In the words of the immortal Dandy Don Meredith or was that Willie Nelson "Turn out the lights, the party's over They say that all good things must end". The analogy would be totally appropriate for those of you who attended an evening party that gets interrupted by a brownout/ power failure that ends up lasting till the morning. Speaking of "till morning". The week we started texting we got into a phone conversation that did go till about 7 AM, starting from about 11 PM . As I got to know Cookie better , I found out that her normal bedtime is around 8 -9 PM. She called me "my photographer". I did enjoy when this relationship kind of had a life of its own. What goes up must come down ,what must rise must fall. The thing is the fall sometimes hurts.
This is obviously a very nice pasalubong / souvenir from her recent trip to Japan. Maybe too nice. We did a lot of eating out plus some movies and some museums. Again nothing romantic yet the division of financial responsibilities very strongly resembled the traditional male / female dating ritual. Something I accepted as the price for being around a regular friend whose company I enjoyed every week. Someone who I was always in touch with. More than one person mentioned we were "bagay" ( good fit) . You know that you really click with someone that when something comes up and they are the only person who will get the situation. A few weeks ago one of my favorite students I christened " Evil Genius" resumed our sessions. I had nobody to tell. Cookie once mentioned in writing totally unprovoked that I was a blessing. Some blessing I turned out to be for her. An Irish Goodbye is a parting gift for a "blessing"?