Brothers, Friends, and other Important People

So I’m typing this in the car (will post it in a while) as we finish driving from Massachusetts to Florida. Straight through, stopping only for gas and bathroom breaks. My husband is a bit of a freak about things like that.

Through the magic of my iPhone, for the past hour or so I have been having text conversations with a handful of people, all of them important to me. My mother, to let her know where we are. My friend N, who is with her kids in Orlando, waiting for their flight to Jamaica (the trip we had originally thought to take with them). My friend Y from shul, who is already down here somewhere and giving me weather reports. My friend H, whose mom and grandma live near where we will be later in the week.

Also texting with my friend M, who we are going to visit this weekend. I met M in seventh grade, and we’ve been friends ever since. Went to each other’s weddings, despite living hundreds of miles apart at the time. His oldest daughter is a year older than Sam, middle daughter is a few months younger than Micah. And his third daughter turns out to have that same extra chromosome as Sofia. So our families have gotten even closer over the last few years.

I’m also texting with my friend P. He is The Kahuna to my Gidget. He was M’s friend from high school first (they went to the Catholic high school in our neighborhood), but he’s been my friend since I was 16.

As I’m texting these two boys (ok,  I realize we are rapidly approaching the mid-century mark, but in my eyes they will always be boys), I’m also watching my daughter with her brothers. She woke from her nap, and immediately hugged Micah...in a head lock. And I realized that this is exactly how the younger sister blessed with two big brothers gives a hug.

And then I realized that, thanks to M and P, I am also the younger sister of two big brothers, who were incredibly important in forming my outlook on life.

I am so very lucky to have such wonderful friends. Friends who have been a part of my life for a long time, and newer friends, who hopefully will also be around for a long time.

Yesterday, I went with my “posse”, the mamas from the Day School who have been my bestest friends for the past 9 years, to celebrate J’s birthday at Maayim Hayim, the progressive Mikveh in Newton. We celebrated our friendships and how special each of us is individually and as part of The Collective. It was wonderful.

Tonight we’ll see M and his family. Hopefully later this week, as we make our last visit to my Grandma Doris’ house to do some clean-up, we’ll see my other friend-since-seventh-grade, B, who lives in south Florida.

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At the hotel: I realize that mine and David’s relationship has always been defined very simply: he likes dirt, I like clean. We spend most of our travels sitting and marinating in a car or campervan or airplane. David loves to camp, real back-pack style camping, for days at a time. He thinks nothing of jumping into a clean bed whenever he is tired, regardless of when his last shower was.

And I spend the same time planning my next shower, or looking for the laundry. :)