Reunion!

We spent most of today with friends -- we met Dave, a friend of mine from college, for lunch at a lovely restaurant in Montclair, where I had a delicious omelet (one thing about observing Passover and being in NYC that SUCKS is that I have to keep away from unleavened foods, which rules out any Italian bakery cookies, true Jewish bagels, etc.) and got a nice warm feeling from seeing matzo brei on the menu at Raymond's. Thank you, NJ!

Dave directed us to a great park called Brookhaven in Montclair that had two terrific play structures and lots of room to run. It was wonderful to let all that good sun soak through my bones. The weather here has made me realize how sick unto DEATH I am of the rain in Oregon. This spring has been terrible, and more rain is on the horizon when we get home on Wednesday. If we don't leave before I'm able to retire, then I'm spending at least 6 months of my retirement every year in the sunshine. I don't care if I have to live in the crummiest trailer park in, say, Arizona. I need SUN, dammit!!

Tonight we met friends of ours from Portland, Nikole and Faraji, and their baby Najya for dinner. (Najya really isn't a baby anymore; she's 2!). Rachel was so sweet with her -- she held hands with her, hugged her several times and patted her back when she fell asleep on Faraji's shoulder at the restaurant. She demonstrates every day what a sweet and gentle soul she is -- at the park today, Rachel noticed a little girl had fallen down and was crying, and she immediately went over and gave her a hug. Two women standing next to me noticed an commented how adorable and sweet she was. "She gets a gold star for that one," one of them joked, and I said, "a sticker. It's all about stickers these days!"