Therefore Having Gone

Therefore Having Gone

Thursday, July 4, 2024

BEING WITH FRIENDS

Tonight I am left reflecting on a particularly pleasant evening with friends. 

Kate and Storly are the ones who introduced Haiti to Melissa and me back in 2010, turning our lives upside down for the following decade.

For this I will be forever grateful.

These days - 14 years later - we live just a couple of miles apart in this town of Columbus, Indiana, allowing us to stay in regular contact. Our youngest works side by side with their youngest at the local ice cream parlor. Kate and Melissa get together sometimes for coffee. Storly and I get together sometimes for lunch.

This evening the two of them invited us over to their house for some Haitian food followed by the community 4th of July fireworks. We had rice and beans and creole chicken and fried plantain and even a little pikliz. Melissa and I contributed some corn on the cob and blackberry pie.

What a feast. 

This was followed by card games and ping pong and conversation. 

When the sky went dark around 9:30, Storly brought out a ladder and we all climbed up on their roof to enjoy the best view of the fireworks we could have asked for. 

It was magical.

It made me homesick for Haiti. And it wasn't just the food. It was the unrushed, play-it-by-ear, simple pleasures of being with friends.

Just being. 

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