reunions

lasagna was in town this weekend- an especially nice treat since the wife and mother of two rarely has an occasion to travel alone. she was invited to a wedding in long island and figured we could have a visit while she was in new york. . . which is how i found myself awkwardly standing around at a day-before-the-wedding picnic in huntington on saturday afternoon. while there were a scattering of faintly familiar faces from college - i began to feel like an intruder amongst an intimate group of old friends and family members.

after i greeted the bride and she warmly welcomed us, i felt immediately grateful for the bride's accomodating nature and extremely appreciative for the boy's willingness to drive and accompany us to what must have been an awkward social outing. a couple hours later, we said our good-byes and headed back to manhattan.

once home, we loaded up the boy's car with bikes (two!), beef jerkey, and cold coffee before he made his way down to frederick for two fun filled days of riding. lasagna and i freshened up (i.e. comfy shoes and jeans) and headed to felice for wine and snacks. all in all, it was like the old days- sleepover where we stayed up talking until we couldn't stay awake any longer, listening to music, and lasanga playing dress up and me playing hair stylist/make up artist.

the reception hall was lovely and the bride looked gorgeous, and most importantly, happy. . . i had to cut out before the entree was served to meet lori who i haven't seen since january. we stopped by her home, had a glass of wine with her and her hubby who gave me a turkish hand-rolled cigarette to smoke, and played with her granddaughter before the girls headed out for drinks in the village. . . time flew by, some apps and a drink later and it was already time to catch my train back home. and as moody and lori stood outside waving while they waited for my train to pull away from the station, i felt very loved and fortunate for the friends i have made.