Patrick's visit

My long-time friend Patrick arrived Wed evening, and he and Spouse were talking out on the back porch when I got home from work.  We chatted on the porch for a little while, then I changed out of my work clothes and the 3 of us met up with Steven & Thad for dinner at Jimmy's.  Patrick had met them on previous visits so we all had a nice time catching up over dinner.

Yesterday (Thurs, my regular day off) we had coffee on the porch and Patrick got some special lovin' from Marvin & Walter.

I suggested lunch and a walk on the boardwalk which Patrick quickly agreed.  On our way to the restaurant my phone rang 4 times.  While I'd hoped to disconnect from work the entire day to spend uninterrupted time with Patrick, unfortunately I kept getting calls and emails from clients to whom I'd shown homes earlier in the week.  Patrick was very nice about it and understood, but I was annoyed.  After handling what I needed to over lunch, we went to the boardwalk.  As if someone had flipped a switch, the sun went behind the clouds, the temperature dropped, and the wind picked up.  It was so chilly we actually had to cut our walk short.  As we were driving away from the beach, again as if someone had flipped a switch, the clouds broke, the sun came back out, and the temperature warmed back up!

We returned to the house and talked some more, and then I went into the office to meet with my clients and write a contract.  This can often be done via telephone and technology, but these clients are kind of 'old school' and wanted to talk and sign the contract in person.  2 1/2 hours later I returned home to Patrick and Spouse, and since I had a taste for pizza we decided to order delivery. After dinner we just hung out together, with 1 eye on the TV and 1 eye on Facebook, relaxing.

This morning Patrick & I had breakfast at a local diner together, and then he headed home and I headed to another real estate appointment, even though I had planned to be off that day so Patrick could stay as long as he wanted.  While our visit wasn't 'uninterrupted' as I'd hoped, it was still nice to visit with my old friend.