It's The Muppet Show, or why Facebook Rocks my World

About 3, maybe 4, weeks ago my good friend Consuelo invited me to join Facebook. I'd been on MySpace for years and hadn't ever considered Facebook, but ok, sounded good, I'll sign up. Turns out there are a lot of people I know on Facebook and it's way, way better than MySpace! I think I have close to 60 friends on Facebook, one of them is Matthew Stensrud, one of the kids I worked with in Oklahoma. Matthew was always one of my favorites (and I'm not just saying that because he'll likely read this either...) and so I was thrilled to re-re-connect (We'd found each other a few years back on MySpace), but I was even more thrilled to hear that Matthew was working in DC for the summer!

After dodging all of our committments, which was a challenge b/c we are both busy folks, we met up this evening to visit the Jim Henson Muppet Exhibt at the International Gallery and grab a bite to eat with Matthew's boyfriend, Michael.

Matthew and I met at the Smithsonian Metro - how amazing to see him all grown up! I think the last time I saw him he was maybe 13? Middle school or early high school, we can't remember. Now he's 21, taller than I am, but the same fun, funny, caring, sensitive, intelligent Matthew! It was so wonderful to see him! :)

We had about a million things to talk about as we headed into the museum, to see the traveling exhibt all about Jim Henson's Muppets and how they came to be. The exhibit was pretty good - they had a few of the actual muppet puppets on display - Rowlf the Dog, Bert and Ernie, one of the Kermits. Jim Henson's work is pretty amazing when you look at all the techincal and creative thinking that went into it.

After we finished persusing the Muppets, we walked a few blocks (it was a stunningly beautiful day - barely 80 degrees and no humidity - a near miracle for August in Washington DC) to a cute little pizza place for happy hour deals! Along the way Matthew and I had a chance to get all caught up on what's happening with the other "kids" back home, what his plans are and life in general! It's hard to get my brain around the fact that all these kids who were in elementary school are now getting ready to graduate from high school! They have jobs and drive cars and all that stuff! Of course I haven't aged a bit!

We met up with Michael, who is a great young man, and had pizza, drinks, and discussion at a little pizza/bar somewhere in DC (I just followed Matthew!) It was so great to meet Michael and I enjoyed talking Olympics and light politics!

All too soon it was time to hop back on the metro and head home, unfortuently Matthew and Michael are heading back to Ohio on Saturday, but hopefully we'll get together again soon! :)