A couple of weekends ago, I took a much needed mini-vacation to Long Island with my friends Olivia and Sehrish to visit Naana, one of our best friends from college who had been teaching overseas for 8 months and who was home for a brief 2-week visit before returning to the island of Tonga, where she’d been working.
Our trip began when Olivia, Sehrish and I left Brooklyn late Friday night and drove the hour and a half into Long Island so that we’d have a full 36 hours to spend with Naana before we all had to be back in the city on Sunday. Our first night there was spent sitting out by the pool in the moonlight, catching up on all the latest gossip and reminiscing about our college years (which seem so long ago now, but really just ended a year ago). We swapped stories and laughed and cried and didn’t go to bed until the wee hours of the morning.
On Saturday, we woke up bright and early to have breakfast with Naana’s adorable niece and nephew. Every time I visit Naana’s parents’ house, I can’t help but be reminded of my own family. Their house is warm and inviting, and Naana’s family is one of the kindest and most loving families I’ve ever met. It really is a joy just to be around them, and I always feel so comfortable and at home while I’m there.
After breakfast, we headed out to the beach to spend the day in the sun. Being a Saturday and well over 90°, the place was packed and we sort of had to wedge ourselves in between two other groups of people. We tried going in the water, but ultimately couldn’t stand the frigid temperature, so instead, we laid out in the sun, tanning and reading Cosmo and Bridal magazines.
We were only able to tolerate the heat for a couple of hours before we decided to leave and spend the rest of the day hanging out in Naana’s pool (but not before grabbing lunch at Ruby Tuesdays! Yum!). While the ocean temperature had to have been in the mid-60′s at most, the pool was a pleasant 85° so we spent the next 3 or 4 hours just floating lazily around and enjoying a day without responsibilities.
Once the sun started to set and the bats started to come out, we took a trip to the local ice cream parlor to grab dessert before dinner. We spent the rest of the night munching on baked ziti (courtesy of Naana’s mom) and raw cookie dough (courtesy of Naana) while we watched a movie and got ready for bed.
Despite our lack of sleep, we woke up early Sunday morning to make the long drive back to Brooklyn before noon. Fortunately, there was no traffic, so we got home right on time and were all able to spend the day preparing for the long week ahead.
Some highlights from our trip:
I think we all had a really good time this weekend and it was nice to spend time with Naana again after not seeing her for so long. We all definitely needed a break from our busy, every day lives and it was really great to be able to spend that time together. It’s strange to think back on when we all first met as scared, immature college freshmen five years ago, and to then think about how far we’ve come since then. We all have good jobs despite the bad economy, and we’re all working in the fields that we went to school for, which probably isn’t true of most college grads. This weekend was a good refresher, and should hold me over at least until my trip to New Orleans in August.
