Guys' Night Out

It is at least 80 minutes past my bedtime and I am feeling foggy in the head, so please excuse this post. I should be asleep right now, but to be quite honest, I'm afraid of the dark (I know, I know, the big 3-0 is coming, I should be all grown up by now. Shut up). So I'm trying to wait up for Zack. I am reading strangers' blogs and feeling thirsty because I am too lazy to get up and get some water. My sofa is so cozy, so cozy you see.

And just where is Zack? Long story. It started with Bryson and Chase Correa planning a caffeine-fueled all-night service oddyssey. Yesterday Chase was calling around, trying to sign up enough guys to fill a van. There was talk of blitzing the downtown streets, pouring out of the van like government agents, cornering homeless people in their cardboard boxes. The gloves come off during all-night service.

Fyi, Chase is Bryson's younger brother, and he's auxiliary pioneering this month. He needs a load more hours, as you always do at the end, when suddenly you realize that the 28th is bearing down on you and how silly it was to sign up to auxiliary during the shortest freaking month of the year. We regulars do not have that particular worry. We let things slide for months on end, and wait till the last sweltering weeks of August to pull our all-nighters. As I type this, I can already sense it looming on the horizon, the month of coffee and desperation, when I will be staggering around like a crazed victim of the zombie apocalypse.

But I digress. Back to Chase and Bryson's all-nighter. I lost no time in telling Zack about it. This seemed a golden opportunity to win friends and influence people. A few hours in a van, and they will be all charmed by his rapier wit.

So last night, Zack texted Chase and asked if there was room for him in the car group. Chase texted back asking, "Who is this?" (Apparently he never reads to the bottom of a text because Zack's name was RIGHT THERE). So he texted back, "Zack Sjoden." We had just sat down to dinner and a movie. About half an hour later, Zack was like, "Chase never texted me back." We both felt all deflated until Zack checked his phone, and in fact, there was a text waiting! His phone had never notified him. The reply was, "All right man, for sure there's room." I read it leaning over Zack's shoulder, and then we were both like, "Yes!!!" and we proceeded to bask in a glow of happiness. He was IN.

So he came home tonight, ate macaroni with me and watched the latest person get kicked off The Biggest Loser (Shannon, I can't say I will really miss you), and then took a shower, shaved, and put on his suit. It kind of messed with my head for me to be sitting on the couch in my pajamas, watching him get ready to go out in service without me.

I think he must be enjoying himself, because he just sent me a photo of Luke wearing Becky's Slanket. (Plus also, I texted, "Having fun?" and he answered "Yeah :)."

And so, mission accomplished.