Spent a really lovely week in the Bay Area (SF, Pacifica, and environs). More about my adventures in a later post.
I would like to concentrate in this post on 4 Special friends: Ana, Louie, Gail and Barry.
Ana and Louie I have known through professional organizations and conferences.Gail and Barry have been good friends of mine (and later my husband) since I was an undergraduate in college).
Ana is a lot of fun. Previously at conferences, we would catch each other at dinners, early morning room visits, our yearly scholarship bash–but mostly at meetings. This time my husband and I were her out of town visitors.
What fun we had. Ana took us on driving tours of SF, San Mateo, Hillsborough, Millbrae, Burlingame and Princeton-by-the Sea. We took long walks together and sometimes just hung out together looking at the ocean and talking. I finally met her family. I treasure the time we spent together and look forward to more times together in the hopefully not too distant future.
Louie and I have been buddies for 5 or 6 years. Even though he is one of the leaders in my profession, he is very down-to-earth. He and I have had fun adventures during conferences when we will just go off for an hour of shopping or catch lunch or a drink together. He has also been a mentor of mine. We caught up with him at his job. He gave me a tour and then hubby, Louie and I headed down to North Beach for some great Italian food. We had a great evening together. Unfortunately, we had to postpone our plans to go to his and Nancy’s house last Friday and fly home early instead.
His wife Nancy is a buddy of mine as well and she and I have worked on a committee together. She has become an important part of my support system just like her husband.
Gail and Barry are our bi-coastal friends, now that they have a place also on the West Coast. We enjoyed having dinner with them near our motel on our first full day in the Bay Area. Later last week we finally got to spend their apartment by the ocean. It was a wonderful evening.
I treasure my friendships with Barry, Gail, Ana, Louie and Nancy. I consider myself quite fortunate to know them and have them in my life–even long-distance.
