surrounded by friends

We have a social, rather than an arts-based, weekend planned. It feels like we'll get a nice rest and renewal before we take off this weekend for parts south and lots of family time.

Last night, we had dinner with an old friend of mine who had never met Robert before. About twelve years ago, I accepted a job at a crazy dysfunctional company. The few good things to come out of it (besides a segue into my next job, which lasted nearly nine years) were a few lasting friendships, one with JaneT, and one with DebbiB.

At the time, Debbi had a young nephew, Thomas, who had been diagnosed with some horrible form of cancer. While she was struggling with what it would mean to lose Thomas, I was staring down the road at Mark's death. Thomas and Mark died within a few days of each other, and it turned out that their birthdays (though not birth years) were within a few days of each other too.

Debbi and I stayed in touch for a long time, and then she dropped off the face of the earth. When Robert and I were in Egypt, she stopped by to visit, apparently connected nicely with my friend Cen, and then she and I re-established our friendship. It turns out that she's buying a house in Maynard (yippee!) so we'll be nearly neighbors.

Last night, Robert, Debbi, and I had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Nancy's Airfield Cafe in neighboring Stow. The food was incredibly good (we each had one of the three specials -- yum). And it was Nancy's birthday, so she was out and about and came and talked to us for a bit before settling into her own celebration.

Tonight, we're dining with Robert's ex and recent office mate, Dawn. We're celebrating the new job that Dawn is starting on Monday (hooray!) and we're looking forward to another repas a trois to celebrate Robert's new job when that happens.

And tomorrow, we're dining with my old friend MarkW and his newish and delightful wife, LeeAnn. I met Mark's first wife, Char, nearly ten years ago when she became my office mate. After Char left the company, she got sick, and eventually died. While she was still around, she engineered a friendship between Mark and me. And though we no longer talk every day or even every week, Mark and I remain close. I was delighted when Mark met LeeAnn, and now LA and I have formed a friendship. So it'll be nice to see them too.

And on Wednesday, we jump on an airplane and go zooming off to Costa Rica. It won't be a major trip -- we'll be there less than a week -- but we will have time to hang out with family and enjoy their company. Our friend Cen will once again stay here to keep Ms. Koa company and the household running.

And then we come back and stay put for a good deal of the summer. I love being away, but being home is nice, too.