Boston!

And so I did make it to Boston last weekend!

My loving friends, Gina and Cynthia, picked me up with a car share at 1:30 am. We chatted excitedly, left the car in the proper place, and walked to Gina’s house. We sipped coffee, ate, and chatted on the kitchen floor until nearly four in the morning.

After Cynthia and I were tucked-in Gina stayed up in that mysterious way I’ve never understood in order to complete a report. Everyone made it out of bed by noon. I wanted to wake the girls up earlier, but at that point I wasn’t sure how late Gina had been up, and I knew that Cynthia was jet lagged. So I enjoyed the sun pouring in through the two windows, and when I got restless with my own thoughts I plugged into my ipod.

Chatting, laughing, eating, and cuddling, which so richly sums up the entire weekend, continued upon waking. While leisurely sipping hot beverages Gina came to the conclusion that her phone was in the car share, so an announcement was posted and we merrily went about preparing to leave. I wanted to show Gina something I had in my purse, but then I realized that I too had forgotten something in the car. Another post was made on the car share website, and off we went! The three of us were unstressed by our forgotten things. We rationalized that it was no great calamity if the items were no more, and we decided we would probably get them back anyway.

Boston is full of art! Street art everywhere, which gives it a comfortable feel. We visited three different sections of Boston; Jamaica Plain, Dudley, and the Little Italy. All of which were so large that they had their own “downtowns”. I never saw, an apartment complex, although they probably exist somewhere in Boston. Gina lived in a neighborhood that had large multi-family homes that people rented out. They are a much nicer alternative to sprawling, ugly, impersonal apartment complexes. Each neighborhood had its own feel, but they all had interesting visual contrast. There was a nice mix between brick, and siding facades. Lots of the buildings were colorful and had large bay windows. Friday we walked the freedom trail, saw an old cemetery, and saw some of the harbor.

After an amazing meal we went back to Gina’s place to relax and sort out our missing items. Since we hadn’t heard anything, we decided to reserve the car for an hour early Saturday morning and see if our stuff was still there. I checked with the airline about what I should do if I don’t have identification, and contacted my family. Then we kept having fun!

I love these girls! Gina is my best friend ever, and Cynthia is really special. We travel well together. Their perspective on everything is wonderful, but the lost items ordeal really exemplifies how amazing they are. Our day was not ruined and nobody pouted. We created a plan based on what was in our control and then we let it go so that we could enjoy one another.
It is a lot easier for me to keep this kind of perspective when I’m around such strong positive people.

Last week I was disapointed in myself for crying when I showed up to an appointment only to discover that the clinic goofed and they wouldn’t be able to see me. Really, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Nobody sought to frustrate me or let me down. It was a mistake. C’est la vie. Yet as I was calmly telling the receptionist why I was disappointed, and asking her to please speak with those involved my voice quavered and tears fell. I didn’t want to make her feel bad, she hadn’t even made the mistake. The most bewildering thing for me was that I didn’t understand why I was so disappointed. I was missing time with my kids, and I had scheduled carefully, but things change. Roll with it. Goodness! It’s not worth crying about.

When I’m with Gina and Cynthia it’s easier to take trivial disappointments like a lost purse in stride.

In the end we recovered our items and continued with our chatting, laughing, and eating.

I went to college with these girls. We’ve seen each others transformation from awkward freshmen to women. We’ve shared homes together, good times, and hard times. It’s liberating to deconstruct my thought processes with these strong ladies, and get their perspective. It’s exciting to see them reaching for higher degrees, and new opportunities. These women are, creative, wise, reflective, thoughtful, searching, and talented.