Last week, I went to L.A. to visit my friend Peajaye. I met him through my other friend Wendi, when she and I guest posted on each other’s blogs back in the good old days when people did that. Anyway, Peajaye and I have been friends since 2008 (which sounds ancient), so I wanted to test the friendship and visit him in L.A.
“Can’t we just Skype?” he asked when I suggested the trip. We are working on a novel together, and after exchanging several dozen drafts and death threats, I thought it would be best if we were in the same, preferably padded, room.
I just can’t get into Skyping, though. For one, I always forget my username. And for another, it seems like a lot of work. I have to find a spot to sit. And talk. Obviously flying to L.A. is a lot more convenient.
Finally, Peajaye exhausted the appeals process offered by our legal system and I booked my flight.
“I don’t understand this,” Mama said. Which was deceptive because “this” implies there is one thing she doesn’t understand, but in reality there were Quite A Few.
“I don’t remember Dostoyevsky flying to California,” she mentioned. “He was a genius and wrote at home.”
“Well, that’s the difference,” I explained patiently. “Geniuses write at home. I, on the other hand, have to travel. As a matter of fact, with my talent level, I’m lucky that I don’t have to travel intergallactically.”
“Where did you meet this person, anyway?” Mama asked over the phone a week before my trip and for some reason wasn’t reassured when I replied “the Internet.”
“What does your husband think about this?” she wanted to know. “Isn’t he worried about you?”
“Hey, are you worried about me going to L.A.?” I asked my husband. He was standing in front of the open refrigerator, as though in a trance.
“No,” he said. “Although I’m worried that our refrigerator doesn’t seem to be as cold as it was before we got the freezer fixed.” To be honest, I’ve been worried about it too. That’s why I wanted to put some miles between me and the freezer.
It was a great trip. We worked on our novel, we talked, we ate the meals that Peajaye prepared.
And I was reminded how important friendship is. And how it can come from anywhere. Even the Internet.
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