So it’s been one of those weekends, I’m afraid. Lost in the wilderness of free time. My dear friend Derek leaves for Scotland this morning for his 4 years at St. Andrews, paid just to be clever and write philosophical papers and such. An open-ended position, and I am seething with envy. We played video games and drank beer late into the night last night. He was only in town for a few days, and he’ll be back in August.

Sometimes we forgot how much someone means to us until they leave. Derek leaves a lot, so I’m constantly reminded. Given how often he pops in and out of my life, I’m surprised at how easy the “See you next time,” comes to me. And I just know there’s going to be a time when such a comment would be inappropriate. Eventually, he’s just going to stop somewhere and stay.