Visiting Friends in North Carolina

Four years ago friends Karen and Sam moved to North Carolina. We were in the middle of a pandemic. As I helped them pack up their belongings (mostly wearing a mask, but not quite always), it felt as if we would never see each other again. Our worlds had grown painfully small. The trip from Lawrenceville, NJ over the Scudders Falls Bridge into Yardley, PA was probably the longest ride my car took that month. I vividly remember Veronica my convertible crossing the 100,000 mile mark (it already had 93,000 miles on it when it became mine a year earlier) on the ride home.

Four years can move slowly or quickly. We talked about visiting them in their new home, but one thing led to another and those years passed quickly. About a month ago I realized we had five free days on our calendar. Being early October, the weather was not an obstacle -- well, except for Hurricane Helen ravishing the western part of the state a week earlier, and their calendar was free, so we made it happen.

The trip was filled with boring every day experiences, the kind we used to have before they moved. We shared meals together. We talked until the wee hours. We went to church together. We took a walk in their neighborhood. We went antique shopping, and strolling around local main streets. We saw where their son and daughter-in-law live. We cuddled with their cats.

It was extraordinary in its ordinariness.

One day we went to the Historic Yates Mill County Park where Sam and I took pictures as Don and Karen followed along playing Sherpas. The weather was gorgeous, and I expect the views will be even more spectacular in a few weeks, but it was the company that made the day. 

Don and I paused in Washington, DC on the drive home.

Thank you for your hospitality.