Progress Report

One week of vacation down...

After a rainy first day of vacation that I spent running errands, I enjoyed a delightful day at the beach with my niece and nephew followed by a late evening al fresco dinner with my sister, brother-in-law and a friend that finally made me feel like I was on vacation.

The next day I prepared for an overdue visit with my friend Deanna, who just flew back to Baltimore this afternoon. While she was here, although not perfect, the weather cooperated enough for us to sit by the pool a little every day--relaxing, chatting, reading, flipping through magazines. Yesterday we actually spent most of the afternoon there--Deanna under the cover of shade while I basked in the sun. We shopped a little, encouraging each other to purchase things we really don't need (see paisley handbag)(isn't that what girlfriends do?) and ate well--here at home where I played hostess, and out. We tried a couple of new restaurants and a visited a couple of places I frequent and ended her visit at my parents' house, where my mother prepared for us a Polish lunch--I mean feast--that Deanna looks forward to every visit. (Unfortunately, post 9/11, she can't take care packages of sauerkraut home with her anymore.) As always our vacation together was great--the perfect mix of things girlfriends do while in subtle denial that we've been doing it as long as we have. Knowing college friends for 25 years seems impossible but true. And a true gift.

She'll spend the remainder of her vacation week (she gets others, just not back to back) and the holiday weekend with her husband at a favorite getaway in West Virginia.

Lucky me? I still have 7 more weeks to get into trouble.

Stay tuned.