In which Cynthia, Ernie and Diana have a damned good day
There are certain friends that just make me feel more myself. Ernie and I had an incredibly wonderful day on Thursday. You know the book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? This was just the opposite. Although that book probably has a happy ending, I don't recall. Regardless, our day was absolutely lovely and just what we needed. We drove up to Wheaton to visit our dear friend Diana. For eons it seems, we've been saying, "We need to go visit Diana," At last we did. I forgot to try and figure out how long it's been since we saw one another in person but it's been wayyyyy too long.
Being Diana, everything was perfect. She had her late husband Jim's walker waiting in the driveway so I didn't even have to pull out mine. The house, of course, is absolutely stunning. My pictures are lousy and don't begin to do it justice. When I messaged her later to ask if it was ok to use the photos here and told her how stunning it is, she said yes and, "Well, we certainly had fun decorating it!" Now every time I look at the photos I also imagine the two of them standing there looking with their heads tilted, saying, "What do you think?" and it makes me smile.
Lunch was perfect. We had tried to plan a time to come when she wouldn't feel obligated to feed us but feed us she did. She had quizzed me on all my weird Low Fodmap eating restrictions and prepared a perfect feast, complete with a beautiful table setting with flint glass and Victorian strawberry forks!!!
I wish I could articulate it better. There are some people with whom you just feel fully yourself. We deeply regret not getting there before our beloved Jim passed away but Diana assured us that he knew how much we loved him. I hope so, because love him we did. I hope this is the first of many visits. Diana is important to us and I want to make sure we hold our friends close.
To make the day even stupidly better, we stopped by the set-up for the 1st Annual Fox Valley at the Fairgrounds show at the DuPage County Fairgrounds and got to see some of our other favorite dealers, Ginny and John Larson and Barb Lemme. Oh man, it felt so good. So good. As Ginny said in a later message, "While Ernie was looking around he said “oh, I miss this….” What a nice surprise to have you with us again. Time seemed to compress for just a little while." Indeed it did. I wish we'd gotten a picture with them as well. Next time...
My walking was really bad that day so I was starting to fade; we tumbled back into the car and headed home (after many hugs), stopping only to take a picture of the Seven Dwarves Restaurant, because, come on, look at it.
We can't wait to see you again, Diana. We love you and we'll be sitting on your shoulder anytime you need us.
Onward.
Top photo: at the show set-up, thanks for the pictures, Barb!