This December, I will outlive both my mother and father. It was hard to believe, let alone say out loud. But as my birthdate gets closer, I am marking the momentous occasion with visits to lifelong friends and family and taking some time in my beloved New York City. I moved West almost 15 years ago (for the 2nd time) but the magic and energy of New York keeps calling me.
The first stop on my Fall “friends and family” tour took me to Williamsburg, Virginia. Not too far from a childhood besties farm, we chose to go to the easy-going Kings Mill Resort for a couple days of girl time. While the resort is well known for their 3 golf courses, we were happy spending our days at the Spa indulging ourselves with pedicures and massages and hanging out on our veranda, sipping champagne overlooking the James River. The resort had almost as much hidden history as we did.
Stopping in my hometown of Wilmington, Delaware on my way to NYC gave me a chance to visit with close family and have a leisurely visit with two special high school classmates.
Sitting together in person, we manage to easily recapture these precious friendships. Lots of open sharing brings back the best memories, but this visit I see these 2 women friends not just as they were, but now with even richer nuance. We all came together seamlessly to celebrate our accomplishments, sympathize with our challenges, and support one another unconditionally. Promises of more visits soon, with more time to listen, to understand and learn from each other. There is definitely something to be said for the wisdom that accompanies aging.
Hopping on the train to NYC, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face thinking about all the people and places I would be seeing soon. There are never enough hours in the day, even in the city that never sleeps.
I ecstatically enjoy every minute I get to be in the Big Apple. With my husband coming to join me in the place we met, fell in love, married and always happy to return to in any season, this vacation was off to a perfect start.
We decided to try a new luxury boutique hotel in the 50’s on the East Side and we were not disappointed. The Concorde Hotel originally was the NYC home for British Airway pilots and their crew and has recently been redone. This hotel had the most spacious room in a metropolitan location we have stayed in ages! Our room not only had an incredible city view from the 27th floor but had a big bathroom with a separate tub and waterfall shower. When traveling I am always a sucker for a room with a bathtub, it was heaven!
While I have an insatiable thirst for the latest restaurants, museum exhibits, theater happenings and city streets of Manhattan, what is always the highlight are the awesome and always inspiring visits with my girlfriends.
We, as women, have come to the age where we have found the liberty to live as we please, do what we love and be completely absorbed in the lure of life itself. My East Coast gal pals are all so interesting and fun – opening art galleries, taking piano lessons, publishing books, singing in choirs, starting new businesses, and traveling to far-off places. They are activists and entrepreneurs, real estate agents, artists, healers, sisters, daughters, mothers, now grandmothers and friends, really, really good, got-your-back, call anytime friends. We all need friends who care, who listen, who laugh, who cry with you and know how to show up. I love every one of them. The have helped me arrive at this season healthy, happy, and so very grateful. Grateful for their friendships, grateful for their inspiration and grateful for their love and support.
Outliving my parents turns out to be just the beginning of this new chapter. Stay tuned.
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