Annie, Visited

Have you met Annie?

If not, then you should. She's one of those friends you can go without seeing for months or even years, but once together again, it's like you just talked yesterday. She's an amazing communicator - handy since I am, without a doubt, pathetic. She calls when I don't, she sends cards like clockwork, she cracks me up, and makes a beautiful baby to boot.

I stayed with her at her parent's house where I felt at home from the moment I walked in the door. It may have had something to do with the thousands of stories she's told me about her family, or it may have been how her dad looks like a big old bear (much like mine), and her mom treated me like a daughter from the second I walked in the door. I met her extended family and friends and came to the realization pretty early on that if you want to be heard around there, you gotta speak up; unbelievably, Annie's the quiet one. I met Cousin Timmy, who I knew from the second he walked in the door; Loretta, who I felt like I already knew; her favorite teacher, Barbara; and a slew of aunts and uncles, each more entertaining than the last.

I played with the beautiful and laugh-a-minute Sam, who didn't mind putting his arms up for me if Mom and Grandma were unavailable - God, what a charmer.

We went shoe shopping (Hi, DSW, it's me again. I love you.), and out for beers; I had my first cannoli (to the shock of the entire population of Long Island) - Yum; talked to more firemen than I've ever known in my life - Double Yum, saw the NYC skyline with my very own eyes, saw where she and Pat met and where they married, and stayed up talking with my girlfriend until the early morning hours, just like the old days - but without the hangover.

(And, no, we did not share a bed to those of you with a fratastic imagination.)

When I left, her mom hugged me and invited me back "even if Annie's not there". And that was the highest compliment she could have paid me.