1) As soon as the papers started reporting on Monday a nor’easter on Thursday, my long-scheduled flying date, I was anxious about what might happen. Long story short, my direct flight to Atlanta was delayed three hours due to high winds, de-icing, and wind-related ground transport issues. At one point they announced that our plane, which still had to be towed to the gate, was stuck behind a UPS plane that also had to be towed.
1a) The high winds also kept them from catering the plane — but at least they announced it in advance so I could snag a sandwich and water.
1b) I got to Atlanta safely. Grateful for all the flight personnel who made that possible. Bonus: I spotted my bag on the carousel as soon as I got to baggage claim. That never happens.
2) Thursday evening, to keep me from being on my own, my cousins Diane and Carol, and Carol’s husband Wally, joined me for dinner at a little noodle house near Piedmont Park. And as always when Dimmicks get together, there was a lot of talking!
3) After having been up since 4 AM, it was no surprise to have to turn out the lights before 9:30. I slept like a stone.
4) Friday morning my friend and hostess Jane arrived after some unexpected travel, and we had an hour to catch up over some strong but subtle black tea before Carol and Wally drove up to spirit me off to Dottie’s. Jane and I renewed our friendship at our 40th high school reunion in 2022; I suddenly described it as “a late-blooming flower,” and that’s an apt way to describe it — something both refreshing and nostalgic in the garden of one’s life.
5) My visit caused Dottie to corral her two sons who live locally, Alex and Sam, and Sam’s wife Shane, to join us for lunch where she lives, and there was a great deal of conversation about family, carpenter bees, cats, clearing out houses full of stuff, and pretty much just what on earth everyone has been up to in the last year. There has been a lot going on.
Crash!
5a) With this branch of the family it is important, when getting together, not just to get a standard group photo, but also a “crash pose” photo. When they introduced this at one of our family reunions, Mother was, um, surprised. She really liked standard smiling pictures the best, whereas I am usually more than ready to ham it up.
6) Carol and Wally drove me back into the city (where they had other appointments) and we ended up talking a lot about architecture, Wally being an architect. They pointed out the astonishing Mercedes Benz stadium as we drove near it, and I was able to talk about some of the distinguished women architects that went through MIT.
7) Jane and I had a marvelous little dinner at a restaurant near the symphony: beet salad and smoky roasted chicken for me with asparagus and potatoes au gratin, followed by a layered chocolate hockey puck with raspberry coulis and some dangerously strong coffee. The waitress admitted the obvious, that she was excessively overcaffeinated (not from the coffee, she arrived that way), which led her to chirp in a bit more than necessary. I forget who said “We hate most in others what we hate most in ourselves,” but I had occasion to remember many conversations in which I was the over-talkative party.
We had wonderful seats at the symphony.
8) My first Atlanta Symphony concert included Brahms’s Variations on a Theme by Haydn and his Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, with one of my favorite pieces in between: Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante in E-flat Major for Violin and Viola. My parents had stacks of classical music LPs when I was growing up, including this, and I loved it from the first time I heard it. I hadn’t heard it live in over 20 years. This was marvelous not only for its own sake and for the soloists — both masterful — but also for its associations to an earlier part of my life.
8a) Atlantans clearly love their symphony, and they love a standing ovation.
8b) Atlantans are also absolutely delightful, and Jane introduced me to several friends and colleagues throughout the evening.
9) Comfortably changed into sweatpants, I enjoyed a nightcap with Jane of some chocolatey South African liqueur as we unwound the events of the day, and the days to come. I really feel that, as a civilization, we value good conversation less and less, whereas we really need more and more of it.