Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -- early morning

Simultaneously a lot has happened while not much has happened since the last entry. But I won't get into that now.

Just now I was lying in bed with Cherise lying next to me. As usual, I let my mind roam free; this sometimes leads me to interesting thoughts although it also sometimes leads me to dwell on other subjects better left alone. Tonight was no different and my mind was lead to thoughts and memories of my first meeting with Cherise, the night when she first walked into the door to the apartment here at 2124 Spruce. There were two main thoughts that materialized.

The first was a funny one: Cherise and her half-sister, Myesha, were either too scared or too uncomfortable to do anything but remain standing near the front door to the apartment. In fact, they didn't move the whole time we were here before going out that night. Of course, the irony is that Cherise now lives and sleeps here. She is just as comfortable now as I am to be here.

The second general thought that came to my head was not as light. In remembering that night it would seem to validate the idea of love at first sight: we saw each other immediately, our eyes met, we began a one-on-one conversation in my bedroom, we went out dancing, she grabbed my hand to go out on the dancefloor, we began kissing during the second song, and the night continued with dancing, kissing, and hand-holding until we exchanged numbers and said "good night."

Unfortunately, the set-up for love at first sight may not hold up since another, later weekend seems to disprove that possibility. I think it was either two or three weekends later that I invited Cherise to come with me to New York City. We held hands during most of the car ride there. When Paul and Corey went out to get food, Cherise came out of the shower to kiss me and massage me. When we all went out, Cherise was only with me for less than an hour before she left me for the night. I didn't see her again during that trip to New York; she didn't come back with Corey and me to Philadelphia. I found out later that she had sex with her ex-boyfriend in Brooklyn that night. Despite the complexities of it, that act basically opened the door to my decision to have sex with Tyette in Baltimore after Evan's wedding. Maybe each of us needed to sow our wild oats one last time before settling into a relationship. But the whole story makes it difficult to call our initial meeting 'love at first sight.'