Visiting home

The weather was rainy and cold, but it was a lovely weekend in Lafayette.

It wasn’t that the roads were less crowded; it wasn’t that the town is smaller or even the locations familiar.

It was about friends.

I met friends for lunch on Friday. I went to a birthday party with lots of familiar faces Friday evening. I met H. for lunch on Saturday. Visited my former next-door neighbor and went to a neighborhood party Saturday night. Then J. and I went to the Jeff Show on Saturday night, where I saw even more friends.

Even when I popped into Interior Objects to run a quick errand for J., Michael, the owner, recognized me at once and we chatted briefly.

The weekend was all about remembering and spending time with people who meant something in my life. Lafayette was home for ten years — a decade — and many, many deep connections remain. At one point on Friday I was feeling strange and disconnected, as if I didn’t belong. But the more time I spent with friends — wonderful, strong women who have meant so much to me — the more I was reminded of just what life was like there.

Fortunately, with airplanes, telephones and e-mail, the world is much smaller than it used to be. For those of you who are reading this — you know who you are — I want you to know how much I value and cherish your friendship, and how much your support has meant over the last few months.

But I also know that I need to work harder at making life here in this new place all that it can be. I need to cultivate new friendships, find all that is positive here.

Which doesn’t mean I’ll ever give up on or forget the people who have meant so much to me in Indiana. You don’t get off that easy; you’re part of my life forever. And I won’t let you forget it.