I got on the subway and could barely hold my eyes open. I was beat and was happy just to be heading home.
As we walked from the subway to my apartment, I got a voicemail from my friend Carolyn. Her husband, Jimmy, had surprised her with a weekend getaway to NYC. They had landed and were on their way to the hotel. She sounded SO excited and happy.
CeCe and I got back to the apartment and got settled in. We were discussing late dinner plans when my cell phone rang. Carolyn and Jimmy were now in their hotel down near Rockefeller Plaza.
I told Carolyn that I’d just gotten in from work but was looking forward to seeing them while they were here. Carolyn said she knew that I had company this weekend but she wanted to know if we would mind if they jumped in a cab and came up to join us for dinner.
Hanging up the phone, I had my second wind.
20 minutes later…I was hugging Carolyn and Jimmy at the corner of 2nd Avenue and 116th street. I hadn’t seen them since my last concert in Atlanta over a year ago. I introduced CeCe and Elizabeth to Carolyn and Jimmy. It was already late and we were all hungry – so we walked over a block and up two to Patsy’s (where we’d recently been with Elizabeth’s parents).
We had a wonderful dinner at Patsy’s and then, with wine and beer in tow, we headed up to my building’s roof. Watching both Jimmy and Carolyn’s face as they stepped outside and saw upper Manhattan surrounding them on all sides was priceless.
We continued to catch up. We laughed, talked, and drank. Before we knew it – it was 2:30 in the morning.
I got Carolyn and Jimmy into a cab and they headed off to their hotel. CeCe, Elizabeth and I were in bed and asleep soon thereafter.
What a GREAT evening…I loved having everyone together. While we were eating dinner it occurred to me that everyone at the table had nothing in common except that they knew me. I love that tonight…my friends overlapped and everyone got on together brilliantly.
