The Journey Inward

Holiday kicked off with an early release from school on Friday, December 12. I went to the gym, popped home for a shower, then went and got a massage ahead of my 16 1/2 hour flight back to New Jersey. I love the Johannesburg airport and was happy to have several hours there. Many people in South Africa have their luggage blue wrapped. I loved the bead designs of Mandela and the animals.

I flew United nonstop and sat in Economy Plus, which was delightful. It was a red eye flight and I actually got some sleep, despite the strange meal service schedule! Between my downloads and my book, the time went pretty quickly. The food was plentiful!

Jan picked me up at the airport and it was so good to see her! She brought me back home and Liz and Pete had prepared some tea and treats for us as we caught up. My friend, Bobbi stopped by and then MJ came to get me for our day together. We had salad pizza, got our nails done, went to the Fudge Shoppe, and did a little shopping. I was so touched to receive an awesome book and a beautiful note from my oldest friend, Suz.

I had a fun evening with all of my favorite things and we ended by watching a Christmas special. Liz and Pete are so well nestled into my home! I love all of their touches and as Jan said, it’s a perfect blend of my style and theirs!

I woke up the next morning to find that 6 inches of snow had fallen! I went down to the basement and dug out snow pants and warm clothes to go out and walk in it. Liz came out of the bedroom and was surprised to see me up so early and dressed for the outdoors. She quickly threw on some warm clothes and we took a quaint walk through town. we came home and put her French toast casserole in the oven! Delicious!

Then it was on to my virtual attendance at our family’s annual white elephant party, hosted by my sister! Both my brothers were virtual, as well. It was a bit hard to stay up with Width, but Gabrielle did a good job keeping me abreast of who had the gift I brought and whose gift I now had!

From there, it was off to my favorite brewery, the Readington Brewery. They had not even shoveled the driveway yet, but they let us come on up and served us. We were the only ones there for several hours! We opened it and just about closed it that day. My amazing Writing Club ladies made a calendar of our poetry and gave it to me. 💗

That night, my friend Tony invited me to dinner with his family. He is such a good cook! It was fun to catch up. As he is a big hunter, I brought him a hat from one of the big hunting companies here.

The next day, Pete, my generous chauffeur, drove me to Doylestown train station to meet John for Monday Fun day in Philadelphia. After, we walked around the festive peddlers village until Pete came to get me.

On Tuesday morning, Pete took me to renew my license and we discovered that it was real ID Tuesday, so I was able to have that done. Then he drove me up to school and I got to visit my friends and some former students! It was so wonderful to see everyone and it just so happened to be the 67th day of school!

Tom picked me up from school and we went to grab some sushi and catch up!

Shari sent me pictures of the Kingwood house in the snow!

Then it was off to the Bridgewater Diner to meet Jan one last time. Shari hadn’t been able to come on Sunday, so she joined us.

And then the next morning dawned, and MJ picked me up and drove me to Newark airport for my flight to San Diego. It was a whirlwind few days, but my friend heart was full! 💗💗💗