A couple of weeks ago my friend Tara decided to have a fete at her place to celebrate both her new fireplace and her birthday. She asked me to bring some single men.

*insert laugh track*

As you are all well aware, were there any single men in these here woods they?d be toothless and rank. Speaking of rank, there IS a single guy down the road?a trust fund kid as rumor has it. T has picked him up hitch hiking a number of times as he has no car and walks everywhere. He?s not that old?late 30s-ish. But the last time T gave the poet a lift he had to keep his head out the window as he drove because the stink from un-removed (and we?re assuming unwashed) long underwear was that bad.

But on the bright side he is single! Independently wealthy! A poet! Quite a good fit in theory if you ignore the stench, the anti-social behavior and the un-medicated pychosis.

Alas, needless to say, when she asked me to bring some single men, I don?t think I did much but raise my eyebrow at her.

But oh, dear readers, how the world works in mysterious ways. Don?t you all LOVE how the world works in mysterious ways and never fails to surprise at the EXACT moment you haven?t the sliverest of a sliver of a sliver of expectation?

Ummmmm, me too.

Saturday night, as I may have mentioned, we had some friends over for a dinner party. They arrived with a friend in tow (and everyone had a pair of slippers in their hands?see Molly? That?s the way we do it up here in the woods?come to a party and bring slippers because NO one would ever walk into your house in boots covered in snow/sand what have you--- see? There is etiquette in this here part of the world).

Did I mention their friend was quite nice looking? Perhaps late 30s? Well dressed. Had lived in Paris, Denver?recently relocated to Boston?his parents are our neighbors (not that I have met them) and he spent summers up here on the lake. So, we were chatting about the West Village (he?d just been last week) and wine and Amsterdam and how unappealing the prostitutes' little window boxes are cause they look like examination rooms which led to the revelation that he is a physician?all this and we were still enjoying hors d?oeuvres!

Of course I thought he was gay. Wouldn?t you? Cute single guy well traveled, well dressed, good hair products?I never gave it a second thought. And then a while later he was looking through a photo book I had done documenting the last year (the building of Soliden, obvs) and he pointed at this photo and said, ?who?s this?? And I said, ?oh that?s Noelle?and her husband Bill and . . .? Before I got another word in he handed the book back to me and said, ?oh, she has a husband.?

Dear readers. Did you feel that little jolt of lightning? Magnify it by one hundred and you will know how I almost shorted out our solar panels with the voltage of my thoughts.

?Are you busy Saturday night?? I asked, OH. SO. NONCHALANTLY.

So, my dear Tara--- today is your birthday, but you'll be getting your present Saturday night.

Who loves ya? baby?

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