Ya know, sometimes I wonder about whether or not people are interested in being friends with me (e.g. they show interest in me and not me coming off as a psycho demon in trying to get to know them) and then the Marine shows up at work, just to say hi. No other reason whatsoever, even though it might be months sinces we’ve talked, and months till we talk again. I don’t know why I get so happy about him showing up because it is the one and only thing, besides a car accident, that will brighten up my day and nothing else can go wrong. He’s not all that special, in the grand scheme of things, outside of the fact that he hasn’t placed any extraordinary requirements on our friendship. He intrigues me, watching him slink around my store, as if I couldn’t notice him. It was quite amusing, months upon months ago. I remember lazing around in the manager’s office, hoping that the Marine would show up that day. Then, for some reason, I decided it was time to go be a social employee, only to walk out of the office and right into the Marine. Of course, this was back when I had a hyper-crush on him and went to work every day, hoping he’d show up. But over time, I gained a kinship with him. We spent most of the night, after a concert once, discussing his tattoos and their significance to his life. I remember noticing the one on his leg, with an arrow pointed up. It looked oddly familiar, but sleep deprivation prevented me from being able to point straight at it in my mind. We were in my work room, so I went straight for my resource book shelf and pulled out a Rune workbook I had and started going through it. Found it! The rune on his leg was Tyr’s rune (still don’t know the name, but that’s ok). I told him how interesting I found it, that he would have put that there, made out of bones, with the inscription “Grunt” weaving in and out of the bones. It made perfect sense, especially in his line of work. He must be cautiously judgemental, place himself in the hands of the devil, so to speak, in order to carry out his work, and risk his life. I have a great amount of respect for this man, especially given how long it took him to let me into his energy, and when he did, how he opened up. I know some of where he’s come from, some of what he dreams and I have a great appreciation for all of that.

I don’t know where I want to go with this, or what I meant by it. I guess it’s the little things, like this, that gets me to appreciate those who are in my IRL inner sanctum. I can spew stories like this about all the people who reside there, and those who are no longer admitted. They’re special to me, and capable of making me grin at those odd moments when no one else can.