livin on tulsa time

hello my neglected blog friends... how i have missed you. what have you been up to jöe? well, i payed a solo visit this weekend to several friends in tulsa that i have not see in a long while. how is the sjölin clan these days? i didn't see my family, or even tell them i was in town, we were there only a couple of weeks ago to visit them, so i just snuck in & out, staying with those who i visited. so how was it? it was really a great refresher, after the year+ i spent withdrawing from everyone during the height of grad school & my suck-ass job, these are the friendships that payed the greatest toll. how bad was it? for example, one friend has been married almost a year now, & i just got to meet his wife for the first time this weekend. another friend (& former college roommate) introduced me to his 13-month-old son whom i had never seen. tell us more. i got to meet & give approval of yet another good friend's new lady love, & what a fine match i must say. even while @ a restaurant with some of these friends, i unexpectedly got to see a couple & their kids who now live in illinois, just happened to be passing through town this weekend, & by chance ate at the same hideaway pizza! did any of this get you thinking? well, as a matter of fact, i was thinking about how great it is to have the kind of friends where you are able to just pick up where you left off, even when so much time has passed & so much has changed in our lives. i also noticed how much i enjoy meeting friends' wives or potential life partners when it seems like such a good fit. that's cool, what else did you do? Poker & Spades were played, theology was 'discussed', & old times were reminisced. it was good. so what else is new? not a lot, really. i appreciate your curiousity though. i promise zaireeka is coming soon.