The old old mountains, and the old old friends...
Chattavegas, Tennessee...
Maria and I met in Nashville on Thursday and drove to Chattanooga, where so many things happened to both of us... and so many of them together.
Thursday night, after Cuban dinner with her family, we drove into "downtown" and rented a room at the Read House... the swanky, but dilapidated old hotel in town. Then we headed out to our old haunts...
which were haunted.
It was sad... not running into the folks we wanted to see, but seeing so many faces we knew, in the same bars, having the same conversations. It made me feel like having a baby and writing a book. It made me feel like doing things. Things! THINGS!
But then yesterday, after a calzone at Lupi's (which I'd been dreaming about since I moved away)... we went for a walk in North Chatt, and found our friends! Hao James rolled in from Knoxville, and Bay from Ringgold, and finally Eddie (from Trick-o-Treating).
And we talked and drank silly fruity drinks (mine had a pineapple in it, or at least a piece of one!) and talked more. And we kept having BIG questions... going in a circle and answering them one at a time, like:
List 3 big goals for the next five years (It had been 5 years since we'd all sat together)
and
How have you changed?
Pretty amazing. And mutual admiration was spoken, and long-time apologies were made, which no longer felt necessary... but they mattered a lot.
And then a HUGE concert/party started up next door on the top (vacant) floor of the building, and costumes began flooding past us, so we went to the party. And the blues band, the Black Diamond Heavies, was INCREDIBLE.
And later, I heard "LAUREL?!"
And the ZOMBIE FIDEL I'd been seeing all night turned into my friend Gabe. Which was happy!!! And hugs were had. And I came home, to Maria's happy house.
And slept.
And today I'll see Kristen and maybe Cole.
I had forgotten how beautiful it is here, especially in the fall. The colors all on the mountains, and the lights of the city reflected in the river, and the four bridges.
I had almost forgotten.
Maria and I met in Nashville on Thursday and drove to Chattanooga, where so many things happened to both of us... and so many of them together.
Thursday night, after Cuban dinner with her family, we drove into "downtown" and rented a room at the Read House... the swanky, but dilapidated old hotel in town. Then we headed out to our old haunts...
which were haunted.
It was sad... not running into the folks we wanted to see, but seeing so many faces we knew, in the same bars, having the same conversations. It made me feel like having a baby and writing a book. It made me feel like doing things. Things! THINGS!
But then yesterday, after a calzone at Lupi's (which I'd been dreaming about since I moved away)... we went for a walk in North Chatt, and found our friends! Hao James rolled in from Knoxville, and Bay from Ringgold, and finally Eddie (from Trick-o-Treating).
And we talked and drank silly fruity drinks (mine had a pineapple in it, or at least a piece of one!) and talked more. And we kept having BIG questions... going in a circle and answering them one at a time, like:
List 3 big goals for the next five years (It had been 5 years since we'd all sat together)
and
How have you changed?
Pretty amazing. And mutual admiration was spoken, and long-time apologies were made, which no longer felt necessary... but they mattered a lot.
And then a HUGE concert/party started up next door on the top (vacant) floor of the building, and costumes began flooding past us, so we went to the party. And the blues band, the Black Diamond Heavies, was INCREDIBLE.
And later, I heard "LAUREL?!"
And the ZOMBIE FIDEL I'd been seeing all night turned into my friend Gabe. Which was happy!!! And hugs were had. And I came home, to Maria's happy house.
And slept.
And today I'll see Kristen and maybe Cole.
I had forgotten how beautiful it is here, especially in the fall. The colors all on the mountains, and the lights of the city reflected in the river, and the four bridges.
I had almost forgotten.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home