Ain't technology amazing?
One of the first people I met in Salem, VA in February of 1969 - Yes, that's '69 - was Gwen VanderLinde. Mary Ann hadn't even moved south yet. Gwen was very pregnant and her soon to be born son and Jeff were neighbors for a few months in Stonegate Apartments. We bought a house, then they bought a house but we were never more than a mile or two apart until they moved to Ohio. We still visited each other regularly for a few years and then they moved to Hillsborough, NH.
I found a client in Beverly, MA, so we still visited at least once a year, usually at Thanksgiving.
We didn't see each other for a several years except for their son's wedding in NY.
One day last year I got a call. "We're going to a wedding in Northern VA and want to stop on the way and have lunch." When I pointed out that Salem was 5 hrs out of the way - EACH WAY from their shortest route, John said, "Well we talked. And we don't know when we'll be closer. So we're coming." Those, folks, are called true friends. We had a wonderful long lunch and caught up on all kinds of family stuff.
I couldn't come to New England and not see them. Even if I didn't have any transportation. My plan was to rent a car on Monday and go see them for the day while Vince, Lonnie and Jan finished their touring of New England. But Sunday night Vince said they were leaving for Niagara Falls in the morning. So I called John and he drove an hour to pick me up in Haverhill, MA.
I stayed with them until EARLY this morning when John got up at 4:00am to drive me to Manchester, NH. I caught a bus to Boston to catch the train to VA. We had a great restaurant dinner Monday night and an even better lasagna dinner that John and I fixed (I chopped the onions and separated the noodles - HE cooked the noodles and assembled the lasagna with "Made From Scratch" sauce that was out of this world) on Tuesday. Their daughter Cindy and son-in-law Craig joined us. Along with their two dogs, Misty and Hudson.
Tuesday afternoon we went to the local reservoir to let the dogs get in a good run while the weather stayed warm.
John stayed home from work Tuesday and we had a great time catching up on things. Yesterday (Wed) I stayed home with the dogs. They are mixed breed, male and female from the same litter that Gwen and Cindy got from a shelter in NY state. And they are SO smart. There are two sleigh bells hanging on a ribbon at the back door. When they need to "go out" or when they're just bored and want to go out, they ring the bells.
What an incredible Tinkerbell inbetween this entire trip has been. Just like my life, things didn't work out at all as we planned and everything was wonderful anyway. There was only one moment of panic when, after driving several hours to get to Acadia National Park, we saw a sign that said, "Closed for the season." It was referring to one of the Visitor's Centers, and the other one was open. So even that was a short moment of panic.
Ferry to Nova Scotia closed? No problem, we'll tour New England.
We don't speak French and only have a little 3" square map of Quebec City in a Rand McNally Atlas? No problem, we'll know where we are when we get there.
Leaving a day earlier than planned for Niagara Falls? No problem, I'll spend three days with my friends instead of one.
Start the trip with no idea how I'd get home? No problem, take a train.
Oh yeah, almost forgot. Plan the trip for three weeks after the leaves should peak. No problem, the leaves will peak three weeks late this year.
Life is GOOD !
No comments:
Post a Comment