A couple of Fridays ago, I entrusted the care and feeding of Buddha and Stella to someone other than myself (thank goddess for Alice, I'll say that right now) and I hopped on a jet plane and flitted away for what felt like, in all honesty, a few short hours with one of my very best friends in the entire universe who happens to now reside in Chicago.
We all may remember when she first lived as a hot sexy single person in Las Vegas. And then as a hot sexy married woman in Tennessee who became the even hotter mother to two. Now the whole family has moved to Chicago and I have to admit I think it's a good fit for all of them.
I haven't seen W in a year. A year that was filled with some not so happy moments for me and a move for both of us, obviously. In fact, the last time I saw her was just two weeks before the dreadful "I'm Done" Monday. So we obviously had lots of girlfriend catching up that needed to be done.
And this is the part of the story where I'm going to positively gush about the wonder that is her husband. He knew. He just knew that what she needed and what I needed was a night of unadulterated special one on one girl time.
R surprised us with a hotel room in downtown Chicago. Not just any hotel room. A room at the Intercontinental. He also took the time to go there before we arrived and outfitted the room with fresh fruit (strawberries! raspberries! apples! oh my!!) and cheese (brie!!) and champagne and wine. There was a gift card to Nordstrom. There was a box of chocolates from Ethel M's. There was so much love and goodness that I actually told R that I would gladly have sex with him I felt so very loved!
W and I were just giddy with the goodness. We drank. We talked. We giggled. We drank some more. We gabbed. We laughed so hard that tears streamed down our cheeks.
Eventually we decided that the Nordstrom gift card was going to possibly implode if we did not go SPEND IT RIGHT NOW THIS VERY MINUTE!! So we walked across the street to the store and as quick as you can blink we each bought new adorable outfits (trust me, totally adorable!) and accessories even though the store was technically closed. Remember, folks, this was Nordstrom. They are never going to tell us we can't shop even if they are not really open!
Flush with our fabulous purchases, we marched back across the street, dropped off our packages and then headed to one of Chicago's best Italian restaurants. Where we may or may not have finished a complete bottle of wine between the two of us and decided that for the rest of the weekend all things that we couldn't remember would just be referred to as SHANE!
The food was delicious, but what was even better, honestly, was just sitting there in the glow that is W and soaking all of it in. I mean all of it. I soaked and soaked and tried to have some of it rub off on my pale pasty Utah self.
We eventually rolled out of there and back to our hotel where we yakked far into the night. Let's face it, we were face to face. We couldn't possibly let the few hours we had go to waste. As much as we talk, there will always be more to say. I don't think I'll ever run out of words to share with her.
The next day found us shopping some more together on Michigan Avenue (we are just the best shopping team!) and then R came and scooped us up with the two adorable mini W/R's in tow. Gosh they've gotten so much bigger in just the year since I saw both of them last. Bigger and more adorable! Absolutely more adorable.
We headed to their new house in the Chicago burbs which really is so very close to downtown and spent the day just hanging and playing with the kids. There may have been some serious rock and roll jamming going on for a while. Eventually we all had to get ready to head to another restaurant to meet my Chicago boyfriend.
What, you all didn't know I had a Chicago boyfriend? Of course you knew. I haven't ever kept it a secret.
My boyfriend, Ben, lives in Chicago. I haven't seen him in over a year, either, and boy oh boy were we enchanted and happy to see one another.
Before I knew it, the dinner was over, I was hugging my boyfriend goodbye, and then it was morning, I was eating pancakes, trying on kids' boots and hopping on a plane back to Salt Lake!
WAY TOO SHORT! It's hard for me to decide who I love more? Ben or his lovely and parents, Anna and Mike? Honestly, the entire family just hold such special magical places in my heart. Just as I consider W and R my family, I also consider Ben and his parents part of my family, too.
But that's the thing about family, isn't it? It isn't necessarily the one that you're born with, it's the one that you cultivate and collect over time. The one that chooses you, as well.
Those people, those people who shared their lives with me for those very short hours that weekend in Chicago?
Those people are my family and I love them oh so very much.
