Stephanie came to visit!
And it was really fun.
The last time we saw each other was a year and a half ago. She came to Albany and stayed in my apartment for a few days and it was wonderful! ...except I got the stomach bug. So there was a lot of sitting on the couch and doing nothing. Still, it's always so nice just to be physically around the people you love best. BUT it was a bummer not to be able to do anything.
Wellllll well well fast forward a bit. Steph and I had been talking about visiting for a while and then two days before we embarked on our trip to Disney I get a text from the lady herself -
"What are you doing Wednesday?"
I said something like DAMMIT to myself, worried that we'd be in an entirely different state the one time Stephanie could travel. But! I looked at the calendar and phew, we'd be back in time. Superb.
I responded and it was set.
BUT there was a storm and another crazy turn of events (don't want to get into it here) and we were held up a bit. Instead of returning on Tuesday, we returned on Wednesday. And instead of returning early Wednesday, so I'd still be home before Steph's arrival, we returned late Wednesday. There was a lot of traffic.
(Side note: I feel like I've become really patient as I get older, and I'm so glad. This traffic would have been so much worse if I had been in a piss mood from it. The kids were asleep during it [God is real and cares about me] and I spent most of it hoping/praying people in the accident were okay, listening to my Glee soundtrack (go on and judge), and cracking up because my gps asked me if I'd like it to switch over to pedestrian use. Over all - not bad.)
Stephanie was cool about it and we pushed her visit back a day. And then she overslept, and she arrived HOURS later than planned. I laughed at how smoothly everything went.
SO, the visit. We went hiking/walking in a nearby park, we played tennis (wow I need practice. and to lose weight. and just general life changes???), we looked at goats. We did my two favorite NC things: watched the sun rise while sitting on a cliff and we went down Sliding Rock - mountain turned water slide.
It was so, so nice to see her again. There were times we were in the car and I felt like everything was back to "normal" even though living together hasn't been our "normal" for years. We've both changed in some ways, of course, but some of our tendencies have remained the same. I rolled my eyes real hard when we got in the car and she turned off the air conditioner and said, "Can we just open the windows and have real air?!" smh. JUST like old times.
I sooo enjoyed the whole thing. The conversations, the drives, the cracking up during Spy. (btw - go see Spy.) I was so surprised that she made it through Sliding Rock. Stephanie is fun and adventurous... but she does not like the cold. No sirree. As we were driving deeper into the forest the temperature kept dropping and I hoped she couldn't see it on my dashboard because I really, really wanted her to try it. I didn't want the fact that it was 70 degrees change her mind. But! She did it and it was hilarious. We didn't take pictures, but omgosh. It's like ice when you hit the water. Luckily, you go numb, so you can't feel it long, but damn it's cold at first. The video makes it look tamer than it is.
We hung out on a creek for a while and she skipped rocks for the first time ever. We ate some overpriced ice cream and chatted and it was lovely. Nothing like running mountain water for background noise.
She's also a vegetarian now, which miiight have brought on a few eye rolls and a couple rounds of "well, she can just eat cookies." But it all worked out and I made tomato tortellini soup (one of my favorites) and kept the vegetarian-mocking to a minimum. Good friend that I am and all.
I was sad when she had to leave, but I'm so super glad we were able to visit before I head back north. And I think I need to start making it a point to see my friends more often when possible.
I also just realized I haven't done a person post for Steph! That's got to go on my to-do list this month.
* * *
Oh, you want to see a ton of low-quality phone pictures? Your wish is my command!
Til tomorrow.
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Charlotte
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