Although I was just on vacation a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t come back feeling refreshed. At all. Vermont was perfect and beautiful, but I wanted to be at work even less when I returned than just before I left. Usually, I come back from a trip and feel at least a little bit relaxed for a couple of days.
This weekend, I was lucky enough to find myself in Charleston, SC from Friday afternoon until Monday evening. My oldest friend moved down there just over a year ago. Because of the pandemic, life and my aversion to hot, humid weather, this was my first opportunity to visit her in her new home. Because of life, education, jobs and physical distance, I had only met her husband in passing at their wedding three years ago, and I met her daughter for the first time this weekend. It was so, so good to be in her presence, meet her family, catch up and relax. Even though I hadn’t seen her since July 2019, it’s always like no time has passed when we do get together. Although conversation is nice, we also don’t have to fill the space with words, which is almost nicer some days.
As opposed to returning from Vermont, I am quite calm right now. I wrote most of this post while my friend got some work done on Monday morning, and I enjoying a slight breeze on her screened in porch overlooking the small lake in her backyard. I watched the heads of little aquatic turtles poke up out of the water and disappear again. A raft of ducks came and went throughout the weekend, sometimes coming right to the water’s edge behind the house. Other water fowl glided serenely over the lake as Monday morning moved along. Mostly, it was just the breeze and a bright blue sky with sparse, puffy clouds over the water as I sat with a cup of tea. It’s hard not to feel good in a moment like that.
Monday afternoon, I packed up my sampling of teas and honey sugar from the Charleston Tea Garden (the only tea garden in North America, apparently), we grabbed a bit of a hurried late lunch and my friend dropped me back off at the airport to head home. I miss her already, and I’m not sure when we’ll meet up again. Hopefully it’ll be sooner than two-plus years. At the same time, I am glad to be back home now, as I missed Justin and my critters in my few days away. As nice as my friend’s old man dogs are, they aren’t Rookie and Magic.
“It’s an insane world but in it there is one sanity, the loyalty of old friends.” ~ Ben Hur
