"Freedom is just chaos, with better lighting..."

Last Sunday morning, I woke up and my shoe was in my purse. That morning "confusion" was an understatement.

I awoke face planted in the middle of my friends fold down couch. A sleeping bag was covering me. All of my clothes from the night before were still on, except for my shoes. Sitting up, slowly, my first thought was "What happened last night?" My second thought was "Did I do anything stupid?" My third thought was "Where is my coat and where is my purse?"

Peering through the curtain of glittering dots that had draped before my eyes, I spotted my friend curled up in the big round chair (which I later described as a dog bed) to my right. We'll call him B-man.

He woke up and I exclaimed "Where is all my stuff?!" He appeared as confused by the morning as I was.

Upon standing, I realized I was still very drunk. I also knew that I remembered absolutely nothing past a certain point at the bar.

I located by purse and my jacket in a pile in the corner of the room. Opening my purse, I found one of my shoes. Immediately, I began to crack up. Turning to B-man, I said through laughter, "Oh man, my shoe was in my purse! How did this happen and where is my other one?"

"Oh, I put it in there because it kept falling off. And I don't know, your other shoe is probably outside." This was the matter-of-fact response I received from my very practical friend.

The sun was cruel blaring through the open door, bouncing brightly off the frozen snow covered earth. Sure enough, a lone, little, black flat lay about 20 feet from the door. It was resting on the smooth snow, next to a ditch that quite possibly was a body imprint.

B-man went to retrieve my shoe as my other friend, we'll call him P-man, burst out of his bedroom door. He exclaimed "WHAT HAPPENED?! I don't remember anything!"

Beer. Video games. Tequila shots. More beer. More shots. A bar. More beer. That's what happened.

Deciding it was smart to get breakfast before any of us hit the road, we stumbled to the local diner in search of fresh air, carbohydrates, and sobriety. B-man was able to recount some of our adventures from the night before and offer some explanations to the morning's mysteries. Apparently, the three of us "fell" out of the bar at closing. I then fell in the middle of the street and cars had to stop. People were looking. B-man said it's good that I don't remember this.

B-man had to help me stumble home and I kept losing my shoe. This is why he put it in my purse (thanks). P-man disappeared, on the phone with his girlfriend. Later we found out that he had told her we were on our way home and were alphabetizing, L for land and O for ocean. He also had denied being drunk.

B-man struggled to get my drunk-ass home and we made it to P-man's house, where P-man suddenly reappeared. Sensing the vulnerability of B-man and myself, P-man seized the opportunity to tackle both of us into the snow, where I lost my other shoe. It was a man-made ditch.

Somehow, we all made it inside, where we spent at least 10 minutes lying on the floor. I then face planted in the middle of the couch (no room for B-man) and P-man neatly folded his jacket (haha), got himself a glass of water, and passed out. This is unusual for P-man. B-man covered me with his sleeping bag and then promptly threw up (which is probably why he remembers so much). He then curled up in P-man's dog bed of a chair until morning.

There exists speculation over whether or not the three of us attempted to play video games before passing out. If we did, we were highly unsuccessful.

Parting ways, we spoke excitedly about making plans to do this all over sometime. I think we all know, deep down, that such times cannot be planned and that's why they are great and priceless. And we all know we are going our separate ways. I was heading back to my life in DC and B-man was flying out the next day for an interview in Washington state. Getting together is not so easy. But it is possible and the future looks hopeful because of this.

Before leaving, I noticed P-man (being a writer) had quotes from writers on his wall. I picked up one by Foster: "Freedom is just chaos, with better lighting." I completely agree.