follow my bliss

That’s me, Kevin and Randy last night at dinner. Daniel took the photo.

The little dinner for Randy was a really fun time. I made chutney and cheddar stuffed chicken, with bacon onion tomato potatoes, and Kev made a yummy salad. The chicken and potatoes were supposed to be a relatively easy recipe, but I was pretty stressed out the whole time I was cooking. Ha. Kevin was incredibly helpful throughout the whole process, which was fantastic. He was one step ahead of me, in fact. The meal turned out fairly tasty, although I don’t know that I’d make it again. The potatoes were my favorite part.

Randy brought over a (gigantic) crusty loaf of good bread and Daniel brought over some wine. We had a nice time catching up on our weeks, chatting about old stuff, making fun of people, and imagining what Randy’s new life in Cali will be like.

These boys, Randy and Daniel, are people I’ve been friends with forever. I’ve lived with both of them, dated one of them, vacationed with them, spent New Year’s Eves and Fourth of Julys with them, met their families, been to their hometowns, seen them both at some of their happiest times and some of their most miserable times, seen them both sicker than sick, I’ve eaten hundreds of meals with them, seen hundreds of movies with them, had dozens of fights with them, and taken them for granted way too many times. They’re two of my very best friends. I was thinking last night after they left our apartment about how I sometimes wish I had more “old” friends – people from high school or even before that who I am still really close to. I don’t have many of those. But I realized that Randy and Daniel are those “old” friends to me. We met each other just months after we graduated high school, still wet behind the ears with our adolescence.

So Randy will move away tomorrow, after living in New York for over ten years. For those ten years he’s been someone I’ve spoken to almost every day, someone I’ve known is always a subway ride (and for years, a block or even a room) away. His girlfriend in is grad school on the west coast, his brother lives there, and he’s ready for a change. Off he goes!

I’m so excited for him because I know it’s going to impact him in positive ways. The weather alone is going to make him happier, I’m sure of it. I also think he’s it’s gonna be really good for him to have a whole different lifestyle and pace available to him. He’s gonna learn to surf. I think that’s so awesome. He doesn’t know precisely yet what kind of job he’ll take. And that, in and of itself, is scary but exciting.

I will certainly miss him. But I know we’re gonna be friends for our whole lives. I don’t say that in a cheesy, optimistic way. And frankly, I’m not someone who has many friendships-for-our-whole-lives, so I don’t even say it from experience. However, the simple fact remains that I’ve known him far too long and been through far too many ugly experiences with the asshole to do anything other than know him forever. We’ve seen each other grow up. It’s been quite a time. I wouldn’t change it for anything.

ANYWAY. Back to finding my bliss. I didn’t find my new calling as a chef last night while cooking chicken. But I did realize that three of the people who are some of the most important to me – Kevin the boyfriend, Daniel the best friend, and Randy the best friend – have all undergone dramatic professional and lifestyle transformations in the last 3 weeks. Crazy, right?

I’ve actually asked them to write a little guest blog post about it. So look for that in the coming days (or months – since two of the three of them are notorious procrastinators).