The Big "Little" Moments

About a week & a half ago, a friend that I became acquainted with through a mutual friend in 2005, wanted to host an intimate dinner at her house in my honor. This plan of mine to relocate is suddenly becoming a real plan to most, so she wanted to capitalize on the free time I have now versus in a month when hopefully things will fast forward a bit. The list of attendees would be herself of course (her name is Annette) and two of my closest friends & past teammates, Ana & Kelli.

I arrived first surprisingly, but even more of a surprise was that Ana was the last to arrive, when Kelli's past history would've undoubtedly placed her last! As Kelli walked in, she toted a huge, yellow gift bag but me being more interested in her arrival, I didn't open it at the time.


Annette is the perfect hostess. Prior to being engrossed in my relocation plans, she & I would meet every Wednesday night for a "Girl's night"; We would catch up on each other's lives, maybe gossip and she always had something prepared to eat & something fabulous to drink. Last night it was grilled Jerk Chicken, plantains, rice & beans, patties (all very Jamaican) with gigantic margaritas! Needless to say, we all had a wonderful evening...


...And certainly, there were the little moments that I won't forget about my evening with "The Fabulous 4". My friend Katie has blogged many times about creating "mental snapshots". She writes:


I wish other people could feel moments the way I feel them. The way I capture a moment – an expression mid-sentence, eyes squinted in a laugh, a sideways look, a small achievement or a defining instant, an overall setting – whether it’s intense and intimate or casual and breezy. Maybe others do and just don’t share them out loud. I don’t know what triggers me to take mental snapshots of my surroundings at any given time. I know that I do this most often when my friends are laughing.


Last night, I finally got that. Not insinuating that I go through life forgetting moments, & facial expressions of excitement or discontent, but last night created a new folder in my mental hard drive. I did just as Katie expressed and took mental snapshots while they laughed, among other moments throughout the evening. Even right now I can vividly see an expression Ana made shortly after arriving that told me that she was a little sad inside. I can vividly see the serene pleasure and happiness Annette was feeling, while watching Ana give one of her many hilarious snippets. I can vividly see the quick moments of eye contact between Kelli and I, when only brief words are exchanged because our eyes understand the very thoughts that we're thinking. Every laugh, every smile, every half smile and pout are still so clear to me...I think I have mastered this "mental snapshot" Katie refers to so frequently.

Leaving Annette's house, I felt loved and happy. I felt somewhat emotional and ever so thankful to call those 3 my friends. I recollected on the memories I have with those girls & smiled as I drove home. I replayed the evening in my head & realized that some of those memories we laughed about, I had forgotten until then, simply due to the passing of time. Even though I know it's expected for people to occasionally forget details over time, I hung on to every word last night and did my best to create those mental snapshots, as an attempt to keep them close to me.

When I got home, I opened the big yellow gift bag that Kelli brought me. Earlier, she had hinted that the real treat would be the front of the gift, surely to make me smile. So when I reached inside the bag, I pulled out a large National Geographic book; the cover was a picture of a gray kitten, sitting ever so curiously beside a pair of ballerina legs, gazing up. I immediately felt the emotion coming over me. At the bottom of the bag was a card. The card said it all but then she wrote about how much she cherishes me as a friend, how she misses me already but that she gets it now.

And she does. They all get it now.

I held back my tears. Why? I'm not sure. I think because I know that there will be the days for tears, but last night wouldn't be it. My night with The Fabulous 4 was exactly what I needed & although I can't even begin to express how much I will miss those girls, I cannot help but smile.