A weekend with a crush...

All Photos Posted on Flickr

Oliver Wendell Holms said, "Without wearing any mask we are conscious of, we have a special face for each friend."

I discovered this weekend that I too have several masks that I wear. My favorite is smart, chic, charismatic girl. That mask, didn't make the trip. Instead, dopey, sassy, nervous talking girl mask made the trip. And maybe it wasn't as bad as I think it was, but there were times I remember saying to myself (actually there were MANY times) "Stop talking. Just stop talking."

The Crush has now found himself, even though he is unaware of his position, fully planted in my house of Crushness. If I wasn't sure why I had a crush on him before I was reminded this weekend. It's not his looks. Its not really anything physical about him. It's really his kind and giving heart and his extreme intelligence that has solidified his position in my not so secure heart. He has a smile that can charm a snake - not that I'm saying I'm a snake, but I was charmed by it. Oh, never mind. Bad example.

I digress.

We departed on Friday much later than planned and hit the ferry dock at 4pm. We waited for about an hour for the ferry, and we were off. Sitting in the ferry line the talk was simple, pleasant, and unassuming. Inside I was freaking out like a mad woman wondering how on earth I was going to make it through the weekend and not show my "human" side. Then suddenly like a weeping willow branch smacking me aside my face it dawned on me, "Perhaps your "human" side isn't so bad. Let him see you." Then suddenly my anxiety was gone. I felt better about just being me. I mean, people generally like me, a few who will remain nameless don't, but overall, I think I'm a good, down to earth, somewhat entertaining and enjoyable person. And clearly he's seen part of that or else he wouldn't have agreed to go on a weekend trip with me. He had ample opportunities to back down and/or change his mind. A weekend is a lifetime if you're with someone you don't like.

Now, where was I...oh yes. The Crush....

The Crush had two jobs for this trip: music and navigation. He told me earlier in the week to not concern myself with how we'd get there, he'd take care of it. And he told me I didn't need to worry about music as he'd bring a lot of his - which is really his way of saying, "No really, let me bring the GOOD music." His "taking care of navigation" meant all major freeways were to be avoided if at all possible. His "taking care of music" meant I got an opportunity to hear a ton of music I normally wouldn't ever listened to. I don't remember any of it, but I do remember that I liked what he brought. He seemed to have put significant thought into what I might or might not like since several times he mentioned out of his 1000 CDs he had to think about what might stretch my music taste and what would already fit into it.

Once on the other side, we stopped and had dinner at a nice little Crepe shop. The Crush had been there before and recommended it. The crepes were delicious and a perfect amount of food to not make me fall asleep on the drive.

As we crept closer to our destination, I got a bit more anxious about the possibility of having to share a VERY small bed with the Crush. Not that I thought anything would happen (a girl can hope though) but just the logistics and weird-ness of sharing a fairly intimate location with someone you don't know all that well. As it turned out, the hotel room had a futon and a bed. Which is good, because the double bed was pushed up against a wall, which meant one of us would have been stuck inside. Whew. Got out of that one.

Westport Washington is a quaint little, and by little I mean wittle town. Tiny actually. We had seen all of Westport by Saturday noon, and we started about 10. We ate breakfast at a fun little cafe called Barbara's in the Marina district of Westport. Good food, and decent price. The waitress amused me greatly because we were "hun" and "dear" to her. "Finished with that plate dear?" "More coffee huh?" Loved it. The charm of a small coastal town.

After Barbara's breakfast we wondered through the rest of "main" street and down to the beach. Long, sandy beaches, but not in the tropical sense, just beautiful. And the sound...I had forgotten at how loud wave crashing on the shore could be.

Back through town I made the Crush stop in a little shop so I could pick up some salt water taffy. You can't go into a coastal town and not buy taffy...I mean really. He didn't seem all that excited about the taffy until I pointed out cinnamon ones. All of which he ate.

We wondered our way to try to find the Westport Lighthouse. According to the map it was at the state park. We drove to the park. Walked to the beach. Nothing. Looked south...nothing. Looked north...nothing. Bewildered as to why the lighthouse wasn't on the beach, we turned to leave. As we left, the Crush noticed the lighthouse inland. Odd. But then again, this was Westport and things were seeming more odd than they should here.

The lighthouse is supposedly the tallest in Washington. It stands at 107 feet tall. I like lighthouses, but wasn't overly impressed with this one. Seemed out of place in the middle of the wooded area instead of on the beach.

We drove into Aberdeen to see a movie later that afternoon. We went to the "mall" in Aberdeen. And I use the word "mall" loosely. It had a JC Penny's, a Sears and a cinema from what I could tell. Inside by the cinema was a "food court" that consisted of a Dairy Queen and a Blimpie subs...that's it. And the food court was closed by the time we got out of the movie around 6:30. Weird. From there we drove to Ocean Shores to check out this little town.

Ocean Shores is on the other side of Gray's Harbor from Westport. Once there we noticed several hundred Harley riders. Great. A Harley festival in town. Scary lot they are. Though most of them were likely mid 40's and wore a suit and tie during the week. We drove through to the beach - I should mention here that at this point the Crush is driving the Mustang. Not just anyone gets to drive the 'stang, so you know this is serious right? - There were roads in Ocean Shores that literally allow you to drive onto the beach. We took one of these roads, and I cautioned the Crush about getting the car stuck. His response was, "Well I can always take a bus back, but the captain goes down with the ship." Traitor!

Sunday we headed back. Instead of heading straight back we decided to drive up the coast a bit to Moclips and Pacific Beach. From there we drove up Hood Canal which had Hwy 101 directly on the shore. It was beautiful country.

Our drive home took longer than planned and we ended up taking the Bainbridge Ferry back instead of the one we took to the coast. Once we crossed the water, and were back in Seattle, I mentioned that I was getting hungry (it was, after all 8:30PM) and asked if he wanted to have dinner. I figured he'd say, "Nah, I'm kinda tired, let's just head home." But instead, he said very enthusiastically,"Yah let's!" He rambled off a few options, but we couldn't decide. Finally I said, "Pick the first restaurant that comes to mind." His response was Serafina. Delish. I hadn't been to Serafina in forever. A bit more pricey than I think we had planned, but it was well worth it.

So, I know you're all wondering, what now? And frankly I don't know. I do know that I felt on several occasions during the week that he wanted to talk to me about something but didn't know where to start, or how to start. I'd catch him watching me every now and then and the look he had wasn't one of disgust...but more like he was trying to decide what to do. I do know that we had a fantastic time. The conversations we had were natural and (for me) educational in many ways.

So, with that my weekend ended. I'm exhausted, but am so glad to have gone. It'll be a memory I'll put in the "must be remembered" box. In the end, I think I have found, at the minimum, a good friend for a lifetime.