New Jersey / New York (Part 2)

My mom had a silent auction at the church on the night I arrived in New Jersey so my dad and I went out to dinner in a little restaurant in downtown Montclair.  Our drive to the restaurant was eerie.  We only passed a handful of homes with electricity on the way and every traffic light and overhead street light was out.  You don't realize how much of a role electricity plays in your life until you don't have it.  BIZARRE!  We had a lovely meal and experienced the same eerie ride home afterwards in time for my mom to arrive with her "winnings" from the auction.  I don't believe my mom has been to an event in the last 25 years where she didn't win a prize, drawing, raffle or give-away.  It's uncanny - if there is something to be won, she wins it.  Never fails.  Every time.  I wonder if some of my luckiness comes from her...

I had lots of visits to fit into my week in NJ, starting with the Zaleskis!  Robyn, Mike, Challice and Zach Zaleski are great friends who came and spent spring break with me in Atlanta several years ago.  They invited me over for Sunday dinner and I was so excited to have the luxury of time on my hands.  It always seems like we have to rush when we get together and this was one time when we would be able to take our time, enjoy a meal and get caught up.  So fun.  Robyn is my friend JB's older sister and she is a truly inspirational person who has enriched my life just by being a part of it.  In addition to being unbelievably self-aware, she has the tenacity of a private detective (oh, the stories I could tell...)  Her children are the best testimonial of her greatness.  Challice and Zach are smart, fun-loving, generous, thoughtful teenagers who always make time for me (even though I am sure they'd rather be hanging out with their friends).  After dinner the kids and I ran out for some frozen yogurt and got caught up on topics that matter to them, like Justin Bieber, SongPop, high school, etc.  What a wonderful way to spend an evening.

Zach and Challice posing for me!

I headed over to my best friend Jenna's house after the Zaleskis and I was one of a gaggle of people she was hosting.  Both of her sisters still had no power, so they (and their families) were staying with her a week after Hurricane Sandy.  She was hard at work on a jigsaw puzzle when I came in the house and when I offered to help she said, "This is why we've been friends all these years.  No one else has helped me all day!"  We spent the next 2.5 hours working on the puzzle and laughing our butts off (like we always do).  At one point she had to go put her sons to bed so I thought it would be hilarious if I hid a piece of the puzzle so when she "finished" it the next day she'd be one piece shy.  I told her husband, Peter, where I hid it and got back to work.  Little did I know that we'd actually finish the puzzle that night.  So, I had to fess up when we got close to the end and pull the piece I hid out of the hutch in the dinning room.  Surprisingly, even after I turned over the piece I had hid, we were 1 piece short.  Hmmm... the next morning I got a text that said, "Apparently Peter has the same sense of humor as you!"  Her son had also hid a piece before I got there and fessed up the next morning:

Peter pointing out the piece of the puzzle he hid... Great minds think alike!

On Monday morning I was venturing out to Long Island to see my friend Kerri and her family.  I must give you the background on my friendship with Kerri to setup this portion of the post.  When I was a sophomore in college I waited until the very last night to return to school before Fall semester classes started.  My roommates had been expecting me for 4 days and each day I would call and say that I'd decided to stay in NJ one more day.  I finally called to say that I was actually on my way and they told me to hurry up --- a girl from Long Island had moved in across the hall and they were dying to see how the two of us would act together.  They were certain we'd be vast friends and assumed we get into trouble together since we had similar accents!  I walked across the hall to meet Kerri that first night and I can't think of any college memories from that point forward that don't include her! A few years ago she married Steve and they have 2 precious daughters, Reagan and Sloane.  

Sidebar: Kerri's wedding was the 29th (and last) time I was a bridesmaid.  I am hopeful that number remains static for the rest of my life.  

I arrived in time for lunch on Monday and we ordered a pizza while we got caught up and played with her younger daughter, Sloane.  We had to pick-up Reagan at school that afternoon and planned to drop-in to see Kerri's parents afterwards.  I was horrified when we walked outside that afternoon and learned that Kerri had succumbed to the pressures of parenthood and purchased a minivan.  It took a lot of self-control not to point and laugh.  Who am I kidding?  I did point and laugh!  HA HA HA!  Kerri did her best defensive sales pitch to tell me what a great choice it was and I just nodded and smiled.  Another one bites the dust.  We gathered up Reagan, stopped by her parents and returned home for a fun afternoon of playing with the girls and gossiping about college friends.  The next day I got to watch Reagan do some gymnastics which was awesome - even though the instructor was making her do left-handed cartwheels which is really hard?!?!

Reading some books to Reagan and Sloane!

After a quick lunch and stop off at her husband's car wash, I was headed into Queens to see my cousin, Emily, for the afternoon.   The next post will be worth the read - I had the worst traffic experience of my life and will recount it with as much humor as possible.  :)