Seeing Our Old Friend Today and Also Making a New Friend

Today our old friend, Angela Amato, and her partner Kamala visited us at our orange grove in Ojai. They live in Keene, New Hampshire but came west to see several friends and Kamala’s aunt, all of whom live in CA. Ray and I have known Angela for over 30 years but haven’t seen her for a very long time. This was also our first time meeting Kamala.

Our daughter Elizabeth, at age four, met Angela and her then-partner Debra at the big antique market in Brimfield, Massachusetts where we used to go three times a year to buy antiques and collectibles to decorate the Chili’s chain of restaurants. Angela and Debra set up near us at Faxon’s Field, one of the many different areas in Brimfield where antique dealers could display their wares to the public over the five days of the market. Liz referred to Angela and Deb as her “fwiends,” and she soon introduced us and her big sister, Sarah, to her new buddies. It wasn’t long before they were our “fwiends” as well. That was 1989 or ’90. We saw them three times a year for five days each time from then until 1994 when we moved to California. We have kept in touch over all these years, especially with Angela. In fact, Liz and Ron stopped by and saw her a few years back when they were in her part of the country. Last year, Angela and I had a long conversation when she called to tell me the sad news that Debra, who had since moved to England, had died unexpectedly of cancer.

When we saw Angela today, it was as if no time at all had passed since our last in-person visit together years ago. She looked remarkably the same and our conversation was as easy and familiar as ever. It was also very nice to get to know Kamala, who seems like a perfect match for our old friend. My only regret was that Sarah and her family were not available to join us.

Thank you, Angela and Kamala, for spending the afternoon with us at our orange grove, followed by a yummy Mexican food dinner. I hope we can stay in closer touch now. That would be a treat.

Here’s to old and new friendships.