“But the summer had been a very happy one, too -- a time of glad living with summer suns and skies, a time of keen delight in wholesome things; a time of renewing and deepening of old friendships; a time in which she had learned to live more nobly, to work more patiently, to play more heartily.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea
The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of exploring the nooks and cranies of the city I'd never bothered to discover for myself before. My petite counterpart, A, flew down to grace me with her lovely presence and we scrambled about New York devouring everything in our path from pizza and gelato in West Village to pizza in Brooklyn (Grimaldi's, of course) to shaved ice and fruit pops at the High Line to dim sum, boba, ice cream in Chinatown to lamb gyros at the random food truck parked right in front of the American Museum of Natural History. And that's not even counting all the countless cups of frozen yogurt and gelato we had in between.
My goodness, time to detox.
I should probably add that between stuffing our faces with grease we also moseyed through "touristy" attractions, such as Times Square (she was less than impressed, I might add), Central Park, the Met, the MoMA to less touristy attractions such as Three Lives bookstore in West Village, multiple Uniqlo's (her new favorite store), and Brooklyn Bridge Park (a sure winner) to name but a few. Having planned this trip for nearly a year and experiencing multiple conflicts in between, I can say her visitation surpassed every expectation.
How do I describe my relationship with A? She and I have been through quite the handful in the relatively short amount of time we've known each other. We met in late 2008 and stayed close even after I moved a few state lines away. Somehow, she still feels like one of my oldest and dearest friends. I've said this before but I'll say it again, she is literally the sister I never had. And by sister, I mean we love each other by grating on each other's nerves. This "grating on each other's nerves" basically consists of passive aggressive comments from me while she makes a point to correct every little inaccuracy that comes out of my mouth. I swear, she will never let go of the fact that I mixed up my history dates when in my excitement after discovering Downton Abbey two years ago, I likened it with Pride and Prejudice. (Gosh, I'm sorry okay, A?) She probably gets annoyed at my nonstop complaining and whining and all the self-esteem issues I have about my food baby. In return, I put up with her ever-so-lovely rendition of Disney tunes.
After dropping her off at the airport yesterday morning, I came home to a rather empty house. I took a nap to catch up on my ever-accumulating sleep debt and woke up feeling like I had lost someone. The rain was coming down hard outside and I realized it'd been a long time since I'd felt this kind of achy sadness--a perfectly deep, gut-wrenching feeling that gnaws constantly at the heart and never quite goes away. The phrase "absence makes the heart grow fonder" has come quite alive in the past three years with every visit and farewell. How fortunate I am to have someone to miss so much.
Until next time, love. Onward to the respective adventures that await us.
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