I had a surprise visit with a friend tonight, intending only to drop something at his gate. Instead, I ran into him and his dog while they were out on their evening walk, and he asked me in and then I just … hung out. Which was such a nice, relaxing thing to do.

I’m getting better about having people over. The amount of stress the first time we did it late this summer was nearly unbearable, but our messy apartment did not break the friendship. We’ve got friends coming over after we get back from Thanksgiving and then our tree trimming is the following Sunday.

I’m also hoping to start having people over to hang out when Rudi’s away on his coaching weekends this winter for game nights or supper or whatnot. I mean, I’d love to have people come when he’s around, too, but that will require some additional thinking, because he goes to bed really early during ski season.

But to do that, we need to have a less cluttered apartment, which we’ve been working on (undiligently) off and on since summer. Before he left for his coaching trip, Rudi put a dent in the closet. Since he’s been gone, I’ve done some work in the kitchen and have some more to do before I hit the living room. There is progress being made; we just have to keep moving forward — and maybe pick up the pace a bit.