Return of James

James and his new bride. He's looking great.

Yesterday I was planning on a 6 hour run, which became 4 before I went to bed last night and is now tentatively 3. If I feel better out there we'll see about longer. No pain, no fatigue, just feeling gray...like a valley between hills and mountains. Been dragging my behind around since Friday.

The perfect mood for a surprise. I have a step brother we spent part of our childhood together. We met when I was 12 and he was 9. I love him lots but I haven't seen or spoken to him in 4-5 years. Before that we were only together for one evening after not having seen or talked to him for 3-4 years before that. Basically in the better part of a decade I've seen him once. Last I saw him he was in the middle of a divorce, had just been stationed in South Korea after 3 years in England and was facing an unhonorable discharge from the Air Force. He ends up leaving the Air Force, goes right back to South Korea after spending a month in the states and has kept his distance from the family since then. Any news I hear is from his sporadic emails to my stepdad. Oh once or twice I got drunken messages on voicemail with him apologizing for being a bad brother and all that. Amusing. Both he and my stepdad are the same way, they have that ability to shut people out. We all do it well, putting ourselves first before other people but these two have mastered it and it's unfortunate when you are the side being shut out. I on the other hand am my mother's son, we tend to fight fire with fire. You put the two together and there's a whole lot of non-communication going on.

Well this morning checking emails over coffee I got an email from my brother - wedding pictures. I almost deleted it thinking it was spam. Good morning Mr. Gaston should I put this bomber right next to your coffee? And my mobile has three missed calls and one voicemail, you got it. If you're looking for a conclusion to the story, well I haven't got one for you (not yet). I'll share when I get there.

Nice. Just like the terrain over here, it's never flat for long.