Look out at the water

We just finished up a lovely picnic in a charming rough-hewn pavilion in historic Bever Park as a thank-you to a group of First Lutheran members who volunteer at the Higley Care Center. And by “lovely” I mean “HOLY SHIT IT’S RAINING SO VIOLENTLY WE’RE ALL GONNA DROWN AND FLOAT AWAY AND MEET OUR WATERY DEMISE IN A FILTHY RAIN-GORGED SEWER but it’s still lovely.”

The deluge was so catastrophic that a drowned-rat jogger ducked into the far end of our pavilion as we were setting up, and my dad—being my dad—immediately went over to him to offer him some coffee, which he accepted so I poured him a cup and handed it to him and OH MY GOD YOUR EYES AND YOUR ATHLETIC CHEST VACUUM-SEALED IN YOUR DRENCHED T-SHIRT WHAT’S YOUR NAME OH IT’S BEN SHY GIGGLE DON’T EMBARRASS YOURSELF JAKE SO HOW FAR ARE YOU RUNNING TODAY BEN THREE MILES WHAT A COINCIDENCE THREE IS MY FAVORITE NUMBER IT’S ONE MORE THAN YOUR TWO ATHLETIC PECS YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE WE HAVE IN COMMON BEN IT’S THE DISTRACTING FACT THAT NEITHER OF US HAS A WEDDING RING WHAT AN INTERESTING COINCIDENCE SO HAVE SOME MORE AWKWARD FLIRTING I MEAN HAVE SOME MORE COFFEE WELL DARN THE RAIN IS LETTING UP AND I SEE YOU’RE ABOUT TO CONTINUE YOUR RUN COME ON BACK FOR SOME MORE AWKWARD FLIRTING I MEAN COME ON BACK FOR SOME BREAKFAST BYE BEN I’LL MISS YOU WHY AM I YELLING OH RIGHT BECAUSE YELLING IS THE OPPOSITE OF NOT-AWKWARD FLIRTING WELL DARN YOU’RE GONE.

Oh—and this tree could totally play Dot in Sunday in the Park with George: