Special-Delivery Candy Gram

No, not that kind of candy, but I love this photo anyway.

Today was a double-dip treat. My friend Madonna, whom I nicknamed Candy many years ago, stopped by with her three adorable young children--twins [Thomas and Elisabeth] and their little moptop brother [Daniel].

Candy and I worked together for years at Good Housekeeping; she was the health editor and I was a writer, and our offices were right across from each other. She and her brood were driving home after a week at the Jersey Shore and came in for lunch with me, H., Fig and Sug. They took a detour to see us--in a torrential summer downpour. I felt so lucky.

We knew each other when we were young and more carefree...before we were mothers. Now Candy lives up in Saratoga, New York, and I haven't seen her since January 2011 [she took me to lunch at Bergdorf's for my 50th birthday] and before that, it was another few years since I had driven about three hours to her farmhouse and seen her barn, her gorgeous pink peonies and arugula in the garden--not to mention her lovely family.

It was such a gift to see Candy. I miss her. I miss our NYC lunches and our talks about life and life paths, about work and writing and editing. About books, apple pie recipes [her grandma taught her a secret or two, and then she also followed Julia Child], restaurants, shoes, our parents, our siblings, our nieces. And I marvel at her, driving her Volvo wagon up the New York Thruway with her three kids, a red cooler by her side with bottled water, books on tape @ the ready.

Candy is not only a gifted writer.....she is tall in my eyes because she does so much and does it so gracefully. And, by accident, she and her daughter left their rain slickers behind, so I will be in touch again to mail them back. ;)

Yay for a Friday Candy & Co. drive-through.

Good night.

TCOY

1. Back to boot camp. Hot as soup but so good to be back with Patsy & Co.
2. My false tooth [it's a long story, dating back to childhood] fell off the post and left a big gaping hole. So instead of "learned helplessness," I called the dentist and made an appointment for Monday morning. I'm just afraid that this time it's too far gone to be cemented back in, and that will mean a ginormous dental bill to make a new tooth. Daunting.
3. Friend time with Candy, and with Jean Rose for a glass of red wine and talk and later, Nikki, Anne, Michael and John. All of that softens the blow of leaving the Cape.
4. Picking up some new work assignments!
5. Nap.
6. Spoke my mind calmly.