flashback

People on the East Coast are buckling down with their supplies and their candles for the possibility of a Hurricane-ish storm called Sandy.

A little more than a year ago, Jon and I were flying into New York to have a fun pre-wedding weekend with Ri/C and Highcon at his Manhattan loft apartment. We (and the rest of the island) cleared the shelves of the local CVS and Walgreens and holed up in his place drinking and playing cards.

I didn't appreciate it at the time, but I really needed a weekend AWAY from wedding planning, and being forced to spend it with some of my favorite people, arguing over Monopoly on the iPad, trying to figure out what is so great about Jersey Shore and crowing about being crowned "President" did the trick to get me back on my game. It was a great time.

Last night--just 14 months later--Highcon was in town. So we got together again (this time Kai and her husband were able to make it). But it was a little different, because:

Ri and C have a BABY! When we were in New York, Baby RiC was about the size of a grape--and we didn't *officially* know she existed until we were leaving for the airport to go home (I suspected but didn't want to ask).

Ri, C and RiC moved, and they ended up in the subdivision across the street from us! And while we've all had condos and apartments, there really is something crazy about people so close to us (also our age) who have a house with a driveway and a patio. Wow.

Changes aside, there truly is something warm and golden about keeping in touch with people you've known longer than you didn't know them (does that make sense?). Standing around the kitchen island, washing dishes, we wondered what our 12-, 16- or 22-year-old selves might have said if they could get a glimpse of that scene.

None of us could even imagine.