Gathering of Friends

So I was supposed to see and old acquaintance in the hospital last evening. Patrice is a Miami Dade cop, and single mom of 2. I met her through my friend Steve the cop. We represented Patrice, and then became friends. She referred some clients to us, and in return asked us to sponsor her daughter's high school basketball team. We did, and helped buy uniforms just last Fall. Steve called and told me Patrice, who is 46, had a bellyache. Initial diagnosis was reflux, but follow up showed a far more sinister metatisized liver cancer. I told Steve I wanted to visit her, but her friends told him last night was a bad one. We planned to go today, but Patrice died early this am. She was a great lady -- taken far too soon. On a happier note, we took D2 out for her farewell dinner, at Towne, one of our go to places. It was lovely. We toasted D2, and wished her Godspeed on her 5 week trip to Spain. It will be so exotic for her -- a place where shopkeepers and people she meet all speak Spanish instead of English. Ha! As if! It'll be just like the 305... We came home, and sat in the library, printing out her tickets. Pretty Carly and lovely Catherine came by, to sad adios. They shared tales of their summer so far, and the days to come. I've known these girls since they were barely teens, and now they're rising college seniors. Ay, how time rolls on... I sat and watched the Ds and their friends laugh and catch up. Wifey, as is her way, played furiously on her I Pad, a few steps behind on the conversation. D1, D2, and Carly and Cath are all sorority sisters from UF. They're at the best time of their lives, and they know it. They're a force to watch, and appreciate. So in a few hours I'll drop D2 at MIA, and she'll be off to Europe. She's to meet her FSU friend Tara in Madrid, and then travel to Valencia together. The longest trip I've ever taken is less than 3 weeks. This one is 5 , and D2 is excited. D1 stayed here the past days, to spend time with her sister. Tonight she's going back to Brickell, and her busy life. She's headed to Houston for July 4, so we'll be childless for the first time in a long while, on the 4th. And so summer is at full sail. People travel, sadly, some people pass away. Godspeed, and Adios, my darling D2.