Serenity and Wendie

Russ started his day with his walk to Ash point. It is like walking to the edge of civilization if all human existence stopped one step behind him. He reported the water was warm today as he dipped his hand in from the rock ledge. Shay does not to go on that walk, as it is too far for her. This makes Russ very sad.

I had a different day ahead; lunch with my very dear friend Wendie. We met my first year I lived in Washington DC, introduced by my ground zero friend David. Wendie and David worked together and we all became part of a little pack of friends. Wendie married Bob and together they had the first baby of our friend group, Cory. Cory’s first two years were filled with this cast of crazy “Aunts and Uncles.” She called me Dee Dee, a name that still sticks with Wendie.

When Cory was not quite two, Wendie and Bob left her with me while they went to look at houses in Atlanta. It was a very cold late winter weekend and it snowed so much Cory and I were stuck in their house. I gave her a bath and tried to brush her freshly washed hair. Apparently I pulled it a little too hard and she said, “But Dee Dee, ma hair, ma hair.” It is a sentence that is repeated often in my house whenever we need to say anything about hair.

By luck Wendie was up in Camden last night, having gone to see Sting, yes that Sting, so we had lunch together today. We met at Home kitchen cafe and occupied the very best table for over two hours, much to the distress of other guests awaiting a seat. There is no such thing as time lost between us. As we are about to enter our fourth decade of friendship we can pick up right where we left off no matter how long it has been.

I returned home to Russ who had been working diligently all day. So much for his sabbatical. I lazily read my book and watched the sky and the water turn into one before the setting sun brought out a tinge of pink on the world. Only in this place, without noise or responsibilities, would I allow myself so much selfish solitude.