Friday Celebration in Central Phoenix

I am not in Millinocket,  today was a beautiful day in the valley.  I arrived early this morning at Karen and Jen's.  It was 1 a.m. but I had moved from Central to Pacific time yesterday on the train, so my body thought it was 3 a.m.  Needless to say that was really late for me,  I did catch a nap in the afternoon and snoozed on the train as we kept rolling west.  Still it was very late and I was really glad when the door opened and there was Karen and Jen!

They have a new house that they moved into just before Thanksgiving last year.  They had just bought the house when I visited last spring, and I saw it when it was totally (and I mean totally) gutted down to the studs.  They envisioned a desert oasis, a little Palm Springs and a lot of love in Central Phoenix.  The house is all of that.  Beautiful, comfortable and so aesthetically pleasing.  And today was a bonus celebration day, I arrived and they closed on the sale of their house out in the desert near Scottsdale.  They had already signed the papers, and we were out having lunch and just deciding what kind of adult beverage to drink when the email came in that the papers were signed, the deed registered and the courier was sending over the check!  Celebration.

They had lived out in the desert for 13 years, it was also a beautiful home and I spent a number of vacations with them.  We toasted the old, toasted the new and acknowledged how good it was to end a chapter.  This was all very real to me as it was not quite two years ago when I sold my house in Northeast Minneapolis. The relief, the emotions and the reality of literal moving on is still palpable to me.

And here we all were on Central Avenue at the FEZ  watching the light rail trains go by,  eating delightful salads drinking Citrus Kisses and Mojito's on a Friday afternoon!  Tonight is First Friday and we are going to Art Crawl, eat,  have a little wine or maybe some beer, do some "pop up" shopping and have a little fun.  It ends at 10 p.m.  and that is good because I know I will be happy to have an early night.   The planning has started, I have been studying the map,  sorting out bus routes, and looking forward to hopping on and off the light rail.  I know where to buy my monthly "Medicare Pass" for the public transit and the possibilities for what this 5 weeks will bring seem endless.  Urban time,  National Parks, maybe a trip to Palm Springs, Bisbee, Sedona and who knows where else.

I am still on vacation and loving it!  I will not mention the weather, but of course you can only imagine.....