A Good Fourth

We all know that some friends come and go. Have you ever taken a few minutes to think about all the people who have passed through your life and lost touch with you? My own personal collection of long-lost acquaintances unfortunately grows every year, but it makes me grateful for the people I've kept up with.

I spent the 4th of July weekend with some of those people, my girls from DC. A few of us went up to Massachusetts to visit a friend who moved up that way about a year ago. For four days, we took in the sights of Fairhaven, New Bedford, Providence (RI) and Boston. We admired fishing boats, ran in vain to catch up with a small-town 4th of July parade, gorged ourselves at a barbeque, watched fireworks from a hurricane barrier, went to not one but two kickin' museums, bought overpriced food at Faneuil Hall, talked, and laughed. A lot. It was exactly what I had hoped it would be.

It was also fascinating to see how people had both changed and stayed the same. The sense of humor and all the other good qualities have remained (and always will, I suspect), but at the same time new things like (graceful and inspiring) motherhood, professional evolution and a strong sense of self have made my friends into newer versions of themselves, good versions. I'm not sure how much or in what ways I've changed these last years, but it would be nice to imagine that I can see in my friends my own reflected growth.

A few bits from the weekend:

Uncle Sam with tractor, boat shoes

Boston architecture

Fife and drum band (fifes not pictured), Boston


Fairhaven, MA