escape from manhattan

My list of favorites on my phone is a short one. Zelia is on it.

We met twenty years ago when our sons were new students at Horace Mann. Despite a deep friendship, we are more different than similar. Originally from Brazil, Zelia now lives nearby on the Upper East Side.

• Where Zelia reads financial news' stories, I gravitate to murders and pop culture. 

• She can go out and in one afternoon purchase a sofa, two chairs, and maybe even a rug.  It has taken me two years to find the exact right coffee table. And then another two to find the right dining chairs.

• We see a film and she might ask, "Who's he?" referring to some A-lister.

• She owns one lipstick and has no need to own more.

• And, she has zero interest in fashion. 

One day we are talking and Zelia tells me she bought a house in Fairfield county.

She does some renovating and within a couple of months, Zelia decides she is going to live in Connecticut full time. I am happy for her and disappointed for me. She'll now live over two hours away.

Recently I visit her for a few days. 

The house is beautiful and big. It's in a wooded area where there is a two-acre requirement for each house. It couldn't possibly be more unlike New York.

The first morning Zelia suggests we go for a walk in her neighborhood. I throw on my usual walking outfit: Lululemon top and bottom. Zelia puts on hers:

"For the gnats," she says. 

The next few days are great. And very relaxing. We go to the nearby private beach which Zelia had originally reported as being horrible; "There's no sand." But when I see the beach, I see lots of beautiful sand. I then have to educate her on the concept of tides, which she knows nothing about. "We don't have tides in Brazil," she says. (This from a very smart women, PHD in economics even).

When we are not at the beach or reading by her pool, we are cooking on her grill, visiting the local shops, meeting her interesting neighbors, or having one of the best meals I've ever had (some lobster Thai thing at her golf club).

And we laugh a ton. Humor is one of the great things we do have in common.