Oh! *dabs at misty eyes* I like you, too!!
It was a fantastic evening. Someday there will be the promised fire. Someday when there's more time and more cold.
And you're doing GREAT. Look at you with your new home and great new job! Serious adulting! And seriously, once you get your toe in the door at the Libraries you're in a good position. It's a big organization with lots of internal job-change opportunities.
And I don't see how writing things and sharing them with friends who love them and interacting about them isn't being in the world. It absolutely is.