Reunion

Facebook has come in handy once again.

I discovered on there in the past months two friends from Corvallis that I knew when we were LITTLE kids, like maybe even toddlers. We knew each other through the Jewish community.

The last I saw of one of them was after high school graduation in 1994, and the other I saw maybe once when I was on a trip home from Oberlin.

We know a little of our ups and downs over the years but got a chance to catch up on NOW and just be together.

They both live in NY now... fancy that... and we met up today with our significant others and, of course, with ND. The 7 of us met at a Kosher vegetarian Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, completely forgetting that this week is the week of the Chinese New Year. The place was packed and we had to stand in line for awhile to get a table. But outside the parade went by! So I got 2 hours of reminiscing and good food, and then we got dragons and confetti too!

Sadly we all forgot our cameras, except that C.'s boyfriend later remembered he had one on his phone and took the one above outside as we watched the parade. Sadly my other friend is not in the picture, but maybe we'll try again sometime.

U and I were talking together yesterday about the TV show Friends and how it represents a generation of people who have become disconnected from their families in some way and are sort trying to recreate it, both in good and bad ways, through friendships. My Corvallis friends and I are so far from home and C. remarked that this is like family. It really brought tears to my eyes. She's right. Even after 15 years.

When we went to get the car from the parking garage there was a crush of people waiting, so U stayed while ND and I went across the street to a little park. We got a full cultural experience as we walked past a fortune teller, two shoe repairmen and a watch battery replacer all on the sidewalk. Inside the park were chess tables, but the men playing at them were not playing chess, but something with round Chinese tiles. One table was particularly intense with over a dozen men watching carefully.

We don't get to the city much. This was a good day.