SPONTANEOUS FRIENDS

I have the BEST friends.

This is the first summer in a very long time, possibly a decade, that I haven't had anything pressing to attend to.  No grad classes, no weddings, no driving kids around, very few if any sporting events to attend, no thesis to write, no broken bones (yet) or weird bursitis or pneumonia or any of the usual summer maladies.

My friends are my friends precisely because they can mobilize at a moment's notice.  So far we have executed (mostly) on the fly:  (Please put the word "Impromptu" in front of each option below)

Trips to the beach
Lunch in Boston
World Cup soccer viewing at bars
Lunches at local spots
Pool Party #1
Dirty Girl Mud Run
Verbal tangle with two idiot clerks at mall

(I'm sure there are more.)

Today is no different.  Why should it be?  The largest grocery store chain in New England is in the middle of nasty in-fighting amongst family members/sole stockholders. Workers are being fired left and right.  Employees of the chain's seventy-one stores gather for a rally in front of one of the stores, a store that my friend and I just shopped in a few nights ago, so we do what any slightly insane people would do: We go to the rally.

By the time we arrive on-site, the crowd swells to about 3,000.  We drive around the perimeter of the rally twice, the police allowing cars to get remarkably close (right along the yellow tape).  There are no spaces in the lot.  After our final pass, we decide to head directly across the street from the Market Basket store to check out the brand new Hannafords grocery store.  We oooooh and aaahhhh as we realize that the prices are comparable to that in our beloved Market Basket stores.  Yay!  New grocery spot!

On the way back through, we swing around to do another circle.  The crowd has gotten so large that we cannot patrol the perimeter, so we pull up one of the alleyways and miraculously find an open parking space.  We remain there, in the belly of the beast, so to speak, and observe a few politicians speaking.  We go into the near-empty store, the store symbolizing all of the protesters today.  The place is an absolute wasteland except for a couple of cashiers and a teenaged supervisor.

After returning to my friend's house, we opt to go for a 2+ mile hike -- in the area -- in the full-sun -- in the heat.  When we return, we suck down some ice water and I start on my merry way home.  Out of the blue comes the sound of my name being called.  The next door neighbor is attempting to get our attention because he wants to invite us over for a pool party.

I have my bathing suit top with me in the car at almost all times in case I get the urge to sit out and sunbathe with friends.  I reason with myself that a quick dip into the pool will feel great.  Four hours later, the neighbor's wife (also the neighbor) lets us help her complete a puzzle, we have talked and laughed for hours, and it's way past our dinner times.  I am sent off with a fair helping of some of the most delicious food I have ever eaten: a zucchini casserole, probably made from the neighbors' own zucchini, fresh out of their garden.

I finally return home 11+ hours after I left to go drive by a rally. 

Long live spontaneity! I truly do have the best friends ever.