the farewell tour has begun. which basically means that i am trying to make sure that i see all of my local friends before i move. schedules being what they are, sometimes that's easier said than done.
take, for example the group of six of us broad run high school, class of '94 alum, all residing in the los angeles area. i've had the opportunity to spend a little more time with brandon and michelle, than with bronwyn, andy, or kevin, but even with brandon and michelle, it had been a couple of years.
when i reached out to them about getting together, i had no plan, other than the intention to find a good date and put it on the calendar. so as the date got closer, bronwyn reached out to me with some ideas about activities. i honestly didn't care -- i just wanted to see them -- so i jumped at all of the ideas she and the others had batted around, and a plan was laid. but here's the truly amazing thing: i was not involved. they figured out timing, locations, transportation, everything! i feel like 90% of my life is spent planning things for other people and this simple act, unbeknownst to them, was one of the greatest going away gifts they could have given me.
they had decided, that since i was the first person they had known with a selfie-stick, that we should pretend to be tourists in our own backyard. we met at a speak-easy in culver city before piling into andy's suv, heading to la for dinner at the iconic cafe formosa.
after dinner, it was on to a couple of other stops; jim henson studios, capitol records, the roosevelt hotel, and grauman's chinese theater/walk of fame.
i've said it before, but there's just something awesome about being with people who have known you since you were a teenager. we laughed and caught up, and took photos, and laughed some more, all of us kicking ourselves that we hadn't taken more advantage of our close proximity over the last eight years.
and while i'm sad to say farewell, it looks like we'll be going out with a bang. during our tourist travels, we happened to drive by the magic castle. it's been on my bucket list since i arrived in cali, but you have to be a member, or be invoted by a member. i thought i had combed my 'friend list' carefully to see whether i might know someone who knew someone, but had always come up dry. so this night, as we were driving by the castle, i started to ask "does anyone know...? brandon immediately responded that he thought he had a connection. and two days later, he confirmed via text. we've set a date, and i'm equally excited to check this off the list as i am to see my friends one more time!
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