The other day I went to visit xocobra and family and to see my godson play basketball (he’s only 6½ years old, so you can imagine how that played out).  I hadn’t seem them in some time as I’ve been so tied up with work.  I tried to take some time off this weekend to catch up on some things (I had to work two of the four days I was supposed to be off), and visiting xocobra and crew was high on the list of absolutes.

I got there midafternoon and visited a bit while xocobra managed the landscapers who were doing some work on both the front and back yards.  I visited with his fiancée, LD, and played with the youngest kids (Shelby, his daughter, and her older brother Dalton, my godson).

Once the landscapers were done and I had poked sufficient fun at the miraculous presence of real grass in the back yard (something that had been amiss in years past), we — xocobra, LD and I — chatted for a bit before we headed off to Dalton’s game.

We got to the basketball courts and found our spot.  Before the game started I saw another friend of mine (he runs PHP2tor) and had a great but brief visit with him.  He was there to see his son play basketball as well, albeit at a different level than the game we were about to see.

Once the game started we watched with enthralled interest as these little kids played basketball.  What a hoot that was!

xocobra’s ex showed up late and was as unpleasant as ever.  There’s something to be said about consistency, I suppose.  She had her new boy toy in tow and he spent most of the game blah-blah-blahing on his cell phone (as people are apt to do when they want to avoid having to deal with the people around them — the technological equivalent of sticking your head in the sand).

After the game we went back to xocobra’s pad and spent the rest of the evening visiting, eating, drinking and otherwise being complete bums.  It was fantastic to get away for an evening and not have to worry about anything except enjoying myself.

Our visit was wonderful as usual.  We laughed, we debated, we talked about the kids, we chatted about everything going on in our lives, we talked about xocobra and LD’s rapidly approaching wedding, and we generally enjoyed hanging out with each other.

That’s what friends are about — helping you take your mind off of your life’s woes, even if only momentarily, so you feel almost human for a while.

So I wanted to say thank you to xocobra, LD, and the rest of the crew for such a fantastic time and for being such good friends.