how things go...

**written jan 17, saturday. sitting in a window seat at urth cafe, santa monica. for the record: cappuccino and tortilla soup. :) *

again, the fruit of making no plans is a chance encounter. this time with dear friends not seen for too long.
whenever i have these random meet ups i think about all the decisions that could have resulted in our missing one another. tonight, it was right down to turning left, not right, after crossing the street.
there they were: emil, moe, amy, kirby and baby kate!
i've had one chance meet up with moe before: outside the arclight cinema in h'wood. when i lived on the west side, we used to live in the same neighborhood. seeing each other on the street wasn't so rare, and was always a treat.
just two weeks ago i ran into my friends sue & craig at a dave rawlings machine show @ largo. for MONTHS sue has been dilligently trying to meet me for lunch or something. (i'll be seeing them next weekend when i attend their baby shower! *crazy exciting this!*)
when i have these unexpected friend sightings, i realize i am a lucky bastard. those who know me, are familiar with my reluctance to make plans. that these people who mean so much to me just happen to be on the same street, at the same show...

these chance meetings remind me of vinnie. she's my oldest friend. whenever we were within a certain range of the other we would cross paths: bumping to each other @ the tapestry & talent fair, she & loretta driving down guadalupe expwy. when i was sitting there, on the hood of my car which was stuck in the mud, her walking across my blanket at a grateful dead show in monterey (i didn't even know she listened to the dead!)...
this doesn't happen to us anymore. i live in california, she in oklahoma. but i think about her a lot. she is on my mind. i wonder if we're doing the same "running into one another thing" but long distance, in thought.