Picking Up Right Where We Left Off

“It’s hard to find people who will love you no matter what,” Carrie Bradshaw said.

Sex In the City taught all of us many life lessons.  When I see the show on TV, I quickly fall into a trance – repeating their lines along with Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda.  A Buzz Feed article wrote about the 79 truths women learned from Sex In the City. Click here to read it.  The first lesson Buzz Feed listed was one of the best: Soul mates do exist. Yours are your friends.

Here is one of my favorite scenes from Sex In the City.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how it’s hard to make new friends as grown-ups.  Click here to read that blog. A number of people reached out to say the blog really resinated with them!  Living in three very different regions since graduating from college (Chicago, the South and the Bay Area), I have also learned it’s hard to remain close with friends who live thousands of miles away.

We all keep up with a lot of friends on social media as well as occasional calls, emails and texting bursts.  But, like the girls from Sex In The City, I have found face to face time is the most rewarding.

My own Carrie, Kerry Gordon, came out to the Bay Area for a weekend in late May.  I haven’t seen her in over a year, but when she got in the car Friday night – we talked like we had been together just an hour ago.

Instead of going out and partying with strangers Friday night, we bought snacks, two bottles of very good Napa Cab and camped out on my living room floor. We laughed, we cried and hugged, we dreamed, we talked about the past, present and future.

Kerry is the funniest person I know.  She can make me laugh at myself like no one else. The Maid of All Honors at our wedding, my husband adores her.  Who else could get my husband to record a SnapChat video like this and beg us to send it to his sons? 

Saturday was a great DayUnPlanned for our trio!  We ate breakfast at Los Gatos Cafe (best bacon in the Bay Area!) and then drove down to Carmel Valley to go wine tasting.  We started at Bernardus Winery.  Good wine, but not very friendly.

Next up was Holman Ranch.  We tasted everything they had and more!  We never stopped tasting or laughing!

The two pourers had a ton of personality and Duncan (above) was a little sweet on Kerry. Kerry ended up winning a bet with them.  She wasn’t allowed to cry or make a face after she drank a shot of Pinot Nior Vinegar.  

After a few more pours, Kerry named a wine after herself: Kerry’s Couture Pinot Nior.

We tasted at a couple more places, recording a few SnapChat videos along the way, including this gem.  

After eating dinner next door at Taqueria Del Valle, we headed down to Carmel by the Sea. Kerry proved she can’t hang, and had to nap a bit on the way down to the beach.

For once, there was no fog!  We walked along the beach, taking pictures.  It was the perfect night at the beach!

We watched the sun set.  It was an excellent ending to the day.

It was a day filled with belly laughs, long conversations, hugs and winks.  The wine was great, the food was terrific and the scenery was breath-taking.  But even better, being around someone who has seen me at my best (my wedding) and my worst (after surgery, in recovery twice) – was the best part.

While we laughed a lot, we also cried. We weren’t afraid to open up and be our real selves, be vulnerable.  We talked about my husband’s cancer, our own feelings about having kids, our careers, our dreams, and of course, men. It was a season of Sex In The City episodes all in one weekend.

The weekend taught me we don’t have to live next door to someone to call them BFF. Everyone is busy.  Everyone has so much going on in their lives.  In order to keep those life-long friends, sometimes we have to be willing to put aside “being soooo busy” and spend time together. We have to make time to reveal our biggest fears one minute and laugh about nothing the next.  After that special weekend with Kerry, I am ready and willing to slow down and reach out more often.  Are you?  

P.S.  As a reward for reading my blog, just in case you are hankering for a little more Sex In the City.