Friday evening we unfortunately had to go by a funeral home. The mother of one of my friends had died. I knew the mother peripherally - I'd spoken to her on the phone any number of times and exchanged cards, that sort of thing - but the daughter is a good friend. It was sad, as you might expect.

This is going to sound odd, given the context, but they had the coolest thing at the funeral home: away from the room where the family was receiving, in sort of an anteroom, they had a plasma TV that was playing a DVD. The DVD consisted of a sequence of pictures from this lady's life, from her youth, her cotillion, high school and college graduations, family pictures, both portraits and random snapshots - and it was really, really cool. I know that sounds strange and...incorrect...but it was amazing and I'm really glad I got to see it.

Since we were already very well-dressed and on the way, way other side of town, I suggested we stop at this very nice restaurant in Midtown (semi-on-the-route-home) where I'd treat Alan to dinner in exchange for him driving me to the funeral home. The restaurant is Mitra, where my friend Michelle's husband held her 40th birthday party. It was a wonderful evening, one of the first in Atlanta where the sweltering summer heat had dissipated, so we sat on the open porch in perfect, non-humid, not-too-cool temperatures with a sweet breeze while eating truly delectable food.

It was an evening of contrast, to say the least.