I never missed having a car.  Manhattan is much easier to get around without one and my handbags are messy enough; imagine if I had a whole car, carrying my crap from place to place. That being said, I love driving.  Especially alone.  I love finding a song I like and blasting the radio and singing along.  Don't get me wrong, I'd do that even with passengers, but the sense of abandon just isn't as great.  It was with this abandon that I headed out on the turnpike to western Massachusetts.

That few hours of road makes for a beautiful trip, even when the foliage hasn't reached it's truly splendid autumnal potential.  I had two intentions with this road trip: to see where my nephew is living and to visit with two of my favorite people, who happen to be fantastic writers and editors.

The nephew:  

T is in his third year at UMass Amherst and moved out of the dorms and into a house with five other guys this summer.  They have a gigantic television (seriously, it's HUGE) and I'm sure they are all fantastic people (I only met one of the other guys), but these are not incentive enough to get me to go back.  Not that I've been invited.  But, it smelled.  And can hanging beer/naked girl posters and fly strips really be considered an attempt at decorating?  All I can hope is that the ambience encourages them all to spend extra time at the library.  

The writers:

C & D (and their children P &N) are people I know from NY, who moved up to Northampton several years ago.  And I really mean "up".  They didn't win the lottery or anything, but they do seem to have hit the jackpot.  Beautiful home, thriving, lovely children, work they enjoy in a town that is small enough to feel familiar, but bustling enough to never cause boredom.  The walks I took with C through town and the talks I had with each member of the family reminded me that interesting stuff is happening everywhere.  One needn't be in the middle of a metropolis to find stimulating conversation.  And I learned more about Nova Scotia, a future destination, in a discussion with N, than I had in the several months since I'd made the decision to go there.  It's good thing (for them) we're not related, because I could have made myself very comfortable staying in their guest room for a very long time.  What lucky sisters I have!

The bonus:

At the last minute I messaged an old friend (K) who lives in Holyoke and hit her up for a visit. She was extremely accommodating and welcomed me on very short notice.  Last time I saw her she was graduating from high school; she's now married and the mother of three.  And although there was plenty of we could have talked about (18 years means a lot of catching up), we spent very little time doing so.  What I did do was watch a lot dancing performed by two princesses (E & M), got my baby-holding fix (R) and enjoyed seeing a girl I so very much liked so very long ago, as a woman with a family and still highly likable.