The comfort of a friend
The one thing I miss most about living in New York City is the camaraderie of my dearest friends. After a horrible work week, it was the norm to have dinner on a Friday night with my Golden Girls. We would stuff our faces and laugh for hours; it was always the solace I needed. I miss the lunches with my work girlfriends and the good laughs after Sunday service with my church sisters. In the almost three years I have been here in Maryland I have been blessed with new friends, but there is something about the comfort of my hometown friends that I miss so often.
Recently while sipping my green tea and catching up on some reading one morning, I received a text that made my soul happy. One of my high school friends sent a text message extending an invitation to dinner. I was ecstatic, we had been trying to coordinate getting together since I relocated closer to Maryland. We were only a little over an hour from each other, but it seemed like 200 miles since our schedules could never connect. My dear sweet friend had left New York years ago and we managed to keep in touch through social media, but it was our hearts desire to spend more time together.
I accepted the invitation and for the next three weeks I wondered what dessert I was going to make, what was I going to wear, what hostess gift was I going to buy for MaryAnn. My husband Martin was even more excited, he had been saying for years he wanted MaryAnn to cook him a good authentic Italian dinner. On the day of our dinner with MaryAnn and her husband, we woke up early like two kids on Christmas. I was so excited I couldn’t wait to get a hug from my beautiful friend. In a season of crazy I needed the comfort of a dear old friend.
The sun was beautiful as we loaded everything into the car, the humidity however was disrespectful. We left early because the route to Northern Virginia was known for heavy traffic, the last thing we wanted to be was late. The ride was beautiful and relaxing as I enjoyed the scenery on a road I had never traveled. We never hit traffic and the time of our invite was 5:30 p.m. When I looked at my watch it was only 5:20. While it’s okay to arrive within 15 after the time of invitation its never good to arrive too early. I asked Martin to slow down a little bit, we don’t want to be too early I thought to myself. He looked at me with the side eye, we were only a block away from MaryAnn’s house. My poor husband pulled over and parked down the street from her house. Yes, we sat in the car killing time, at 5:32 we pulled up to the house.
I had never met MaryAnn’s husband although I remembered when they started dating in high school, as he opened the door and greeted me, I felt like I knew him forever. The best feeling in the world was hugging my beautiful MaryAnn, it was everything I needed, she didn’t change with time and hearing her voice as opposed to reading a text or message on social media was life.
The aroma of dinner cooking was everything and just like no time had passed we sat around a beautiful charcuterie board filled with the best Italian meats and cheeses, eating, and enjoying great conversation. The dinner did not disappoint, the hospitality was so unmatched. As we all shared one common denominator, our upbringing in NYC, we realized that we love our friends in Maryland and Virginia but the comfort of being with our New York friends was the absolute best, it’s always comforting to be in the company of an old true friend, they know your humble beginnings, they don’t care about your status in life, they just love the old soul inside of your that connected as teenagers and as seasoned adults still connects, the comfort of an old friend will always be cherished.
My dear friend, MaryAnn.
