Here’s a thought: “What if…”

A friend of mine in another state is having her 60th birthday party and sent me an e-vite. It’s an important year for all of us turning 60. It’s a sort of road map that says: “Two-thirds of the way done…” There was an excellent deal on air fares and I searched thru, thinking I would like to honor my friend by attending her party. Just before I hit “book it,” I pulled my hand back to sleep on the decision. Hey, the sale was good thru the next day.

When I woke up, I thought again of booking the $150.00 flight, the hotel, and arranging for my dog and cat to be cared for – a trip of Friday thru Sunday for about $500-$600 and I would spend approximately an hour with my friend, sharing her with other friends gathered to celebrate her… Another cup of coffee was needed.

And then, I had a better idea. What if it could be more like this?

True, it’s missing the steam, but you get the point, right? So, I called my friend and said, “How about we do a weekend together, one on one?” Now, this is an easy sell because this friend of mine for 45 years – yes, we met at McDonalds!, our first job – we had realized we hadn’t seen each other in years. We’d speak for hours on the phone, but hadn’t had a face to face in years. Every 18 months to two years since then, we meet in Portland, Oregon at a plush hotel and spend a weekend together. She has different interests than mine and we make sure we share our separate worlds in person – I love gardens and books and she loves art and is a stellar sculptor in her own right. We wander street galleries and farmer’s markets and try a different restaurant for each meal. These little weekend trips are emblazoned in my mind as some of my favorite memories. And that is what we are going to do sometime in February.

I saw the following video today and he so expresses my views I thought to share them with you.