Sunday, 16 September 2001 | Wax

Though I still feel a little removed from daily life, I'm learning to retrace my usual steps and to assimilate myself back into patterns and into Raleigh. Yesterday evening one of my best friends from pre-college days got married, an event that was refreshingly positive after this long, confused week. Somehow old friends find ways of making life feel more constant, reminding me that years have in fact changed little, and that we can still find threads of friendship without excessive searching. A group of us ended up talking in a back room until the house was empty, and then we persisted in different locations until some ridiculous hour, enough to last us until we find another reason to get together. [Congratulations Clyda]

Today I found the city that I've known since college, hiding in a rusty, relaxed bar disguised as familiar faces and live music and crisp evening air, a short walk from my house. It didn't matter to me that all of the people I recognized I don't know all that well or that I didn't speak to everyone whose name I know; just seeing the faces and sitting at an old picnic table covered in wax and hearing clean guitars as the sun faded made me happy to be where I was.