a weekend that brings my college years back to me. they often hover close to the surface and the memories of places and people and carefree laughter have been rolling out of us since thursday night when lisa and mike and their beautiful almost grown boys arrived from michigan. our friendship always seemed a little unreal. our bond a little undefined. it just is. we met in art history class, lisa's first class her first day of university, i think. it was my second year and i had fallen into art the year before. we sat close enough for me to make comments to her that first day. and then walked out together. and have never been without each other since.
lisa married mike when we were still young and breath less. in many ways he is the male version of me. and 11 years later, when i married tom, it was clear that in just as many ways, he was the male version of lisa. so when we are able to be together, the energy sizzles and is at once, wonderfully crazy and beautifully still. her boys are curious and artistic. they love music and photography. they sit around listening to our crazy reminiscences without being too embarrassed or too bored.
and we wander around the studio, lisa and i. we talk and i sew, our lives finally blending despite the 500 miles that seperates us. it's been 8 years since we were together. time sifts past. but here we are, a long weekend in september filling our hearts and souls until the next time.

there is an exotic flavor twisted into the dark grounds of my coffee this morning. cinnamon and coconut swimming together in the coffee grounds. a little sweet and comforting to start the day. i was reminded by a college friend this weekend of this simple sweet brew. i was grumbling about being tired and he said 'make some coffee, and put cinnamon and coconut in the grounds like nikki always did.' my heart leapt a little. nikki was brilliant. a designer with a warm and open heart. we would spend countless all-nighters working on college publications, meeting deadlines, giddy with fatigue, drinking her coffee. in the moments when it was either late or early, one wasn't sure which, night wasn't quite day like my 20 year old self, either child or adult, i didn't know which. drinking nikki's coffee. this was in the mid 80s, a distant memory, but like yesterday.
several years ago nikki was killed in a car accident in michigan. i still find it hard to realize she's gone, because for me she still makes wonderfully witty and biting observations about life and collapses laughing, a warm fun presence in my life. thank you brent, for reminding me of her coffee.