Life is a mystery

Well, duh. Of course it is.

So: another night of intensive poker chat. Not quite the marathon of the first, but once again running into the small hours of the morning. We are learning together, and it's really fun.

I brought Mr. WPY some homemade applesauce as a belated birthday present. (My fridge has a half-bushel of apples in it, which I picked last Monday at an orchard in Markham, VA. There's quite a variety and their freshly-picked cachet isn't going to last very long. It's going to take some doing to get through them all.) In a typical poker-player move, I bet-sized the gift in part as an information-gathering device. I packaged the applesauce into two nice single-serving-size containers, and told him that I'd done it so that he could easily share if he wanted to. He smooth-called by averring that he would certainly be eating it all himself. Interpersonal poker ~ don't try this at home, kids!

And yet: once again, not a whiff of romance. I'm not floating any vibes whatsoever, and neither is he. We are meeting, we are talking about poker, we are having a good time. Neither of us is treating it as a date-like occasion. I even opted to dress more down than usual this time. Interestingly, I find that I am growing more accustomed to his attractiveness and it's not nearly the distraction that it was before. In a classic development, I'm seeing the person and the personality more than the appearance. How evolved of me... :P

After we parted company (cue awkward hug again), I drove past him just before turning up the hill. I was struck that his gait seemed somehow unhappy and plodding. I waved as I turned, and I think I saw him notice me and wave back as I headed off, but I'm not sure. My intuitive take-away from that glimpse was that something is weighing on him.

I wonder what it is.