I had an excellent prayer time with Sassafrass Teawrap last night. I went to sleep immediately afterward feeling very calm and centered.

I bought Mr. Renaissance a copy of Ella Fitzgerald's "Like Someone In Love" for his birthday (in a couple of weeks). I recommended that he buy himself this album 2 years ago; I highly doubt that he has done so. I have wanted to get it for him for some time, but I'll be honest, giving him an album with that title seemed too bold, and seemed to give away too much. Now I delight in the double entendre. I love this album, obviously. I would want him to have it even if it were called "I despise your rotten soul." I can't help the connotations of its name, though it does please my writerly and poetic sensibilities.

The card I am giving him is too perfect. I didn't even buy it with him in mind, at least not consciously. On the front of the card there is a black and white photograph of rowhouse fronts, taken of a small neighborhood in Baltimore, circa 1945. On the doorstep of one of the homes there are two bottles of milk that have not yet been taken inside. Mr. Renaissance lived in this neighborhood when I first began to get to know him, just a few streets over from where this photo was taken. It occurred to me after I bought the cd that this is the card I should give him. I think it's kismet.