our best friendship of 28 years is going strong

As has become our late spring/early summer tradition, AB and I traveled to Massachusetts for our twice-yearly visit.

The trip here was filled with quite a bit of metaphorical turbulence. 

We've flown so often we have a pretty good system down. I know I need to have extra patience and be 300% on. Not only do I need to keep her occupied for hours, I need to keep her safe. It's a lot of work but we usually make it with little to no issues (unless someone throws up in which case BIG issues). We didn't get delayed or have air sickness, but every other little thing that could go wrong went wrong. I went to bed at 10 the night before we left but didn't fall asleep until 2:30. I got up at 4am. For those doing math at home, that's one and a half hours of sleep. It was barely a nap. Annabelle had gotten up at 4:30am and by the time we were about to board the second plane, she had been wide awake for nearly five hours, eaten two breakfasts, played with all the toys we brought, rubbed her hands on the toilet seat, smelled her strawberry-scented jelly shoes 15 times an hour and flopped down on the carpet in the boarding area. I barely had the energy to correct her. She talked nonstop the entire time she wasn't sleeping. I was not in the mood to talk which presented an issue. 
We got on the plane and were settled in when two ladies said we were in their seats. I didn't realize we had seats 34C and 35C instead of seats in the same row. We moved, then the ladies moved, then their friend in row 33 moved. It was musical chairs in the crowded plane aisle. We're all going to the same place and getting there at the same time so why does it matter if the seats are wrong? Honestly, I would have been happy to hand Annabelle off to someone in row 34 while I relaxed in row 35. 

We seldom travel with a car seat but I did this time since I was renting a car. I didn't factor having to carry the car seat as well as our two bags and carry on, so I looked like a pack mule. A kind TSA agent took pity on me and asked if I needed help. I said we were trying to get to Enterprise and he looked at our mound of possessions, looked at AB and her flipped over unicorn suitcase and told us where to find a shuttle that would take us to car rental. I almost kissed the feet of the man driving the shuttle. I would have been 35 years old if we had to walk there. There were several issues with getting the rental car but I finally got on the road. I put the address in the gps and somehow ended up with directions to Greece. 

It was worth all the angst and frustration because look who we were reunited with the next day after two years apart- my very best friend Katie.

She gained a child and I gained several pounds in our two years apart, but we're just as close as ever. We picked up right where we left off and stayed up late at night eating ice cream. We had so much to catch up on. We had a rocky start with the girls because Annabelle started crying the minute we arrived to pick them up, but she recovered and they had a great time. 

It's so much fun to see them together. It was especially fun since they got to play at the same lakehouse Katie and I played at 23+ years ago. They were sleeping in separate bedrooms but had the classic sleepover conversation of "if I wake up first I'll wake you up, but if you wake up first then wake me up." Last time we visited, AB was in diapers. This time we set out breakfast on the table at night and told them to have at it and serve themselves breakfast in the morning. It was a new dawn of parenting. 

The first full day we visited the beach in the rain. We said we'd visit for just a few minutes didn't bother bringing the kids a change of clothes. What a rookie mom mistake. Of course they went in the water, rolled in the sand and got wet! We let them get as wet and dirty as they wanted. We live so far apart and never get to see them, so this was a fun memory to make. We wrapped everyone up in towels and listened to the new Aladdin soundtrack on the way back to the house.

God bless Massachusetts and God bless a Dunkin Donuts that makes good ice coffee.