i need a moment

i'm sitting in Ben's mom's office in Brainerd, MN.
at this desk on this computer i found out 3 hours ago that i got denied for health insurance. i can only guess that the determining factor is my arthritic condition, for which i have not received any medical treatment in over 3 years, since i moved to atlanta.
i applied for another plan with a different company (after Ben's mom said i should be glad i didn't get the first one because they have repeatedly screwed over her friend). here's hopin...

on the window sill in front of the desk is a picture of a couple who i assume is Ben's parents in the 1970s. the man looks just like ben. just.
further to the right on the sill is the prayer of st. francis. let me sow love...

we had a wonderful dinner. there was delicious food, laughter, stories, an irreverent family atmosphere, a sharing of meal blessings from various Christian traditions (the Catholic one, Johnny Appleseed, the Methodist one...), a bit of religious banter, passing plates and drinking of drinks.

we watched turtles race earlier today. i love minnesota.

tomorrow, my parents will pick me up and we'll visit a town we lived in when i was a baby and see friends of mine from elementary school who are married with kids and live there now.

i'll post in a moment about monday. it was a day for the blooper reels for the 3 of us (Ben, Marie and me). but despite the craziness, it was really good to see their faces at the airport and to sit high above home plate in the metrodome, even if gravity works harder on hotdogs.

rock on.