All I Need Is a Good 12 Hours...

I spent nearly all of my 20's in Boston, working at the New England Conservatory and eventually enrolling and graduating from Suffolk University School of Law. Walking side by side with me was my best friend, Lorraine. I met Lorraine at the Conservatory when she auditioned and was accepted for the voice department. Not a day went by that we didn't see each other or at least talk on the phone. We used to say that Life didn't actually happen unless we told each other about it. We'd drive up to Maine at a moment's notice for lobster and a walk on the Marginal Way in Ogunquit. We tooled around New England celebrating the Fall by picking apples and making pies. We sat on the Charles during the summer and listened to outdoor concerts in the Half Shell. We loved Boston to it's fullest.



Lorraine has been an opera singer for over 25 years. She's literally travelled the world and has lived in New York City, Augsburg and Rostock, Germany and most recently Knoxville, where she teaches music at the University of Tennessee. She met her husband and I met mine around the same time...1994. She sang at my wedding, bringing everyone to tears. And though there are many miles between us, we have remained best friends all these years. I can't say what makes a best friend. I just know she's mine.

She came to visit me this past weekend for three days and two nights. I hadn't seen her in 7 years. She arrived wearing this incredibly dated Prism triangular shawl I made her in 1980-something with hot pinks, purples, reds & plenty of eyelash. Ugh!!! I was screaming when I saw it. I traded her for a beaded Egyptian cotton scarf, and threw that raggedy old shawl in the trash can! I hardly slept before she got here and I hardly slept when she was here. I could not contain my excitement.

I finally crashed last night, going to bed at 8:00 and waking up at 8 this morning. Ah, back on the planet. All I needed to recover was a good 12-hour schnooze. I'm left with daffodils everywhere and a CD of Lorraine singing Mahler which I wish I could share with all of you!