Friday, July 16, 2010

Portland: Emily, Phil, & Lila

Picture it: North Tarrytown NY, Christmas Eve, 1979 –neighborhood Christmas Party.  Two little girls, both 4 years old at the time, hiding behind their mothers – both a little shy and both probably more than a little overexcited about the coming of Santa Claus and both likely up past their bedtimes!  

That was when I met Emily! After that night we quickly grew to be friends! The following Fall when we were both enrolled in Kindergarten our moms made sure we were in the same class! As the years went by we did all kinds of things together – we went to see Goonies, in the theater, we had many outings to the Crest (local swim club), we even went away to camp together! We played on the rocks, had Barbie weddings, sleepovers, and were tormented by her big brother John. 

Then just before 5th grade Emily and her family moved away.  2 hours away.  We still saw each other occasionally, but the distance was great and it was hard. 

Right after we both graduated from high school in 1993 we managed to get together for lunch when we both happened to be back in North Tarrytown on the same weekend.

After that we lost track of each other, but thanks to the wonders of Facebook we have found each other!  Emily’s parents have moved and now live about 2 hours from me on the Eastern Shore.  Emily has gotten married and has a 9 month old baby girl Lila.  They live in Portland now so making sure we worked a visit to Portland into this trip was a priority!

Fast forward 31 years from the Christmas Eve: Today I hung out with Emily after not seeing her for close to 20 years! We went out to lunch and got to see a little of Emily’s neat neighborhood! Then we sat and chatted all afternoon, while Lila napped! It was so much fun reconnecting and seeing the house that she and Phil have fixed up and of course meeting Lila!  It’s great to fun to know that even after 20 years we can still hang out and enjoy the afternoon together! :-)

Emily and Phil are coming to the east coast in August and we are making plans to get together again then too! 

As we were driving back to the campground from Portland this afternoon we got some great views of Mt. Hood – we were stuck in traffic on the Interstate Bridge (as soon as the traffic screeched to a halt, I remembered Emily’s warning about Friday afternoon traffic being horrible!) so I had a few opportunities to snap a picture.  Now I’m wondering if there is a place I could live where I could see Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, & Mt. Hood?  Hmmmm….wherever that might be it’s closer to Portland and I already have some friends in Portland! ;-)

No comments: