My biggest regret is that these are the only 2 photos I have of me, and James and they are of very poor quality. Sorry. I was just so overwhelmed over so many things that have happened in the last 10 hours:
1 - that I finally got here (Boston airport) after I was told that there was no space on the flight.
2 - that after 30 some years, I am visiting again with my good friend James whom I met in Boston when I was visiting the east coast of USA for my very first time. I was wandering aimlessly around Boston back in 1987 or '88. I needed a hotel room. I walked under the sensor of the front doors of the Chandler Hotel, the doors slid to the sides, causing me to look into the lobby and there I saw this gorgeous man behind the front desk. This was obviously the right place to book a room. James provided wonderful "room service" and we have remained friends ever since.
3 - frantically trying to connect with free airport Wi-Fi. Then loosing connection. Then losing my phone. Then losing my mind. When I connected to let James know I landed, he said he knows, and he knew that the flight landed early. He said he was waiting in his car for me right in front of the arrival doors. I said OK but I just stepped off of the flight and first I need to pass thru customs, get by bag, and go tinkle.
4 - I've now reached the arrival hall and I am all set but I just want to let James know that I needed 5 minutes to go to the restroom and I will be right out. But dang it! I couldn't connect to Wi-Fi. I asked a young girl standing nearby if she could help me. She pushed all kinds of buttons on my phone. She didn't have any success either and then she just handed me her own phone and said: Here! Call your friend on my phone. Wow! What a sweet, trusting woman. How generous.
5 - then the worst of all things possible happened. Even worse than not getting on the flight. I lost my phone with all my credit cards, driver's license, bus card, health card and basically my whole life on speed dial. It was everything I was supposed to use in the USA for the next 3 weeks and the rest of my life in Denmark. I walked into the restroom. Set my backpack and my phone on my suitcase. I tinkled, I walked to the sink to wash my hands. Then when I was done, I grabbed my backpack and suitcase and walked out of the restroom and out of the arrival hall and out of the exit doors. I was to meet James right at the exit doors. He told me that, that is where he was at. I waited and waited and waited. But where the heck is James - I wondered. He said he was right out front of the exit doors. It was baking hot, so I had to stand in the shade of the building and back away from the curb. Maybe I was too far back from the road and James couldn't see me. I tried to get close to the curb so James wouldn't miss me, but I kept having to move back into the shade. Too much time had gone by, and I knew there was something wrong. So, I wanted to try and see if I could connect to Wi-Fi again to try to call James and find out what was going on. That was when my heart fell to the ground. My phone !! Where the heck is my phone !! I felt all my pockets. I rummaged all through my backpack. I opened all the zippers and dumped everything out on the sidewalk. Ear plugs, black-out eye-mask, nose and mouth corona mask, sleeping tablets, travel size toothpaste, travel size hand sanitizer, Danish coins, breath mints, toothpicks, all spread out all over the sidewalk - but no phone. No phone! Jens is going to kill me. Where the heck is my phone ?!!! What am I gonna do ?!!! I had it just a moment ago in the restroom when I set it down on my suitcase to wash my hands. Dang it! I realized I somehow left it in the restroom. I ran like crazy as fast as I could back to the restroom and there it was, on the floor right in front of the sink where I washed my hands. The travel gods were with me this day. They got me on the flight and they watched over my phone until I could rescue it. It fell off of my suitcase and landed on the tile floor without making a sound. I was so upset at myself for pulling the perfect screw-loose-absentminded-eddie move. I always do this. I always carelessly put down my keys, wallet, phone, eyeglasses in places without thinking about it and can never find it again without a panic. My father, over the years, would say to me, "It's a good thing your head is screwed down to your neck, or you would lose that too" - and he's right.
To this day I keep thinking about what would have happened had James been in his car, right out in front of the doors of the arrival hall. I would have hopped into his car and not have a clue that I dropped my phone on the restroom floor and left it behind until later that evening and 2 states away.
6 - totally star struck that I am seeing James again after soooo many years. It was surreal. And what a sweetheart to drive all the way from his home in Rhoad Island to Massachusetts back thru Rhoad Island to Connecticut to where my sister Christine and her husband Robert lives.
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I am just so bedazzled to see James and I quickly open my phone and snap these two photos while he is driving. I didn't review the pix until my return home. And so sorry that I didn't snap anything while we were out doing things. What was surprising to me was that Christine and James had already become phone pals. The plan with my sister Christine was that because by the time we finally would pull into the driveway, it would be too late for Christine to have dinner waiting for us. So, she suggested for me and James to find someplace along the way to have dinner. I said no problem because James is a foodie. He knows all the best places to eat. His facebook page is proof of that with some of the most scrumshus food shots posted on his fb. But Christine and James had been talking and James told me that Christine called him and said that She and Robert placed a food order at a mom n' pop restaurant called Reins's Deli and all we had to do was just stop and pick up the order. We got the food but we still had an hour behind the wheel before we would even arrive. When we finally got to Christine's place, we attacked the food.
Because Christine had to work, I spent time with James the following day as well, while he was here in Christine's neck of the woods. She really does live in the woods. Christine was so nice and welcoming to let James spend the night instead of him having to drive all the way home again late at night and it gave us a lot more time to catch up the following day. We went to lunch/brunch at a recommended favorite of Christine's and Robert's. A long drive for me but just around the corner for the folks of CT. We get there and it was closed. So, we found a different place. Very cute and very tasty. I am just so bummed that I didn't snap pix of James and me eating together at this place. Here is the link to a few pix from google. View the "Vibe" photos to see what the place, Leo's, looks like. I was sure I took photos but when I got home - nothing.
Eventually I had to say good-bye to James and as he drove to the end of the driveway, I was just about to yell, STOP!! but it was too late. I realized after the fact, that I didn't snap a good-bye photo. I guess I was really living in the moment. I hope his visit sticks into my memory until James finally comes out to CPH for a visit.
Get your ass out here, James ! Time to get that passport stamped.
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