Reunion

I drove to Cincinnati to meet my Italian for lunch last Wednesday, 18 hours after he landed. Panera Bread was a wise choice, since Alessandro is a health-conscious workout fiend. Seeing him through the glass of the restaurant, I jumped up in excitement as tears threatened to pour forth. He was wearing jeans and a white button-down shirt ("There is too much air conditioning here!" he said to me with a shrug.), looking just as I remembered. The only thing missing? Danny stuffed in his suitcase! 


On one hand, it felt like I had seen Alessandro the day before when I climbed into my cab on Via dei Serragli in the early hours of August 15. On the other hand, it felt like years since we'd met face to face. Amy, his Cincinnati hostess, came as well. It was a welcome reunion after weekends by myself in Oxford longing for the camaraderie of my 'amiche americane' and 'amico italiano' from the trip. 


What a week. Since his arrival, Alessandro has inspired a lot of gatherings and parties--house parties, bar meet-and-greets, dinners, dancing, and late night chats. It has been a blast. Take Saturday night for example:

I picked up Katie McC and went to Jason's house where Alessandro is living for his time in Oxford (he has his own bedroom and bathroom without rent). After stopping in at the Clinton's house to see Colleen and Connor and Kelsey N., We headed Uptown to Skipper's to meet Meghan, Karen, Lauren, Jen, Jenna, and Alyssa. Christina and Erich were working the bar, so a good 10% of the group was in one building. Not bad. We ended up going to Brickstreet so he could experience an American-style dance club and ran into Scott R. and Claire C. on the dancefloor. Pretty good for one night out on the town.  


In fact, he's had so much fun, he may not go to Chicago this coming weekend. I hope he sticks around. I'm enjoying his company very much. At the same time, I have a ton of work to do. Being responsible is so over rated sometimes...