"You're Like the West Coast" - an MCS Safe Aspie Meeting

At 5 am on Friday night/Saturday morning, I was just finishing up an IM conversation that I had been having with a friend all night. Just as I was about to sign off, he asks me "So, do you want me to come visit?"

I told him he should have asked me several hours ago when I could think more clearly! :) But, nevertheless, I pondered it, and decided, why not? As long as he followed my rules (that I need to protect myself because of MCS), which he accepted beforehand, and he was game for a 6 hour ride just to visit me for a few hours - why not? I'm not usually into spur of the moment decisions, but I desperately, desperately needed some novelty and excitement in my life after two months of nothingness, so I said why not?

And of course I was flattered that someone wanted to drive six hours to see me for only a few hours. My friend Eric is from the DC Aspie group I used to go to; I knew him only online and only for a few months, but thought it would be fun, and of course I did want to meet him.

So, he drove six hours from DC through Pennsylvania, stopping at a cheap ($36) hotel in a small PA town along the way, and got here around 3:30pm today. He is very into travel and adventure, and has in the last few months taken weekend trips to Boston and even California, so now he can add New York to the list.

He was nice enough to stop and get me some groceries at the grocery store, including Odwalla, which I have been out of for weeks. It was 55 degrees out today, which was one reason that I suggested doing it today and thought it might actually work (the first suggestion was yesterday, which wouldn't have been enough time, or as good of a weather day). It was even sunny by the time he got here; it had seemed like it would rain until then. We went on a walk through town, and he brought his camera so that we could get pictures of the town. When he gets them on the computer, I can post them here and show everyone, finally, especially my family who I am sure are interested to see, what Liberty looks like! Hmm, I just realized we didn't start taking pictures to midway through, though, so missed a few things. Oh well.

We went to the graveyard, but it was blocked by snow! First time that has happened - usually the snow is packed down enough to walk on easily, but the warm weather had melted it and made it slushy. We found a way though, though, and walked a little ways up to where we had a great view of the sunset over Liberty. Pretty colors. He was nervous about the ice and I was nervous about the snow (don't like getting my feet wet, but am used to slippery surfaces), so that was kind of funny.

When we got back, we sat on the porch for two hours listening to 60s music off his Ipod. Can you imagine, two 20 somethings who love 60s music? I don't find many of them. He brought rugelah and challah from Whole Foods - I did a google search the night before to find out where to get Jewish food in DC, and the options were limited, apparently - but I was told Whole Foods would have it. And they did. Surprisingly, the raspberry rugelah was out of this world. When you bite into it, it is flaky, buttery but not too buttery, a burst of sugar and cinamon, and an explosion of raspberry flavor in a pastry that melts in your mouth. That is exactly how rugelah should be. I was hoping for a cinamon kind but raspberry is all they had; and it was fine. Another true mark of good food is when it's a flavor you don't even really like but it's still excellent.

The challah as expected was rather tasteless, but that's okay, as I was more than happy with the rugelah. It seems to be difficult to make a good challah. Most grocery stores have terrible challah. So, anyway, it was a great mood because we were sitting and relaxing on the porch eating Jewish food and listening to the Adam Sandler Hanukkah song on his IPod speakers, and then we even said the Hanukkah prayer. A belated Hanukkah mini celebration. (He's Jewish too.)

Then he broke out the 60s songs and he had lots of good ones. He says he has 60,000 songs on his IPod. We heard everything from Herman's Hermits to the Supremes and I Hear a Symphony; the Beatles, the Stones, Ooh Child, Ride Captain Ride, If You're Going to San Francisco, even Uncle John's Band by the Grateful Dead and a special Jewish version of it - someone singing it while replacing half the verses with a Shabbat prayer. We sang half of American Pie, heard Whoopie We're All Going to Die (the Fixing to Die Rag), and filled up on our Woodstock. It's nice to sit on a porch on a warm winter evening and sing songs at the top of your lungs. Two Jewish Aspie hippies, I suppose.

After two hours, I went for more food and came back with NYC lox my dad had sent me. He really appreciated it, said he loved lox, and that it was some of the best if not best lox he had ever had. Said you can't get lox like that in DC - probably true. I also was glad to give him the rest of my Trader Joe's junk food stash as I had had my fill of it - was good, but ate enough! - chocolate covered pretzels, blueberries and raspberries sticks. Also, some of the chocolate covered truffles from TJ, which he also properly appreciated.

I forgot the first part I was going to mention.

When he got here, he said to me, after I had gone upstairs to bring some of the groceries up and get him the chocolates, "You're like the West Coast - it takes a while to get there but it's more than worth the wait." I do believe that is the most creative compliment anyone has ever given me, and I think it's beautiful. He was referring to the fact that it took me a while to come back, but the chocolates were more than worth it. :) Or perhaps he could have been referring to the drive to Liberty and meeting me in general, who knows. I even gave him a card with a picture of a cockroach on it that said "Cockroach Droppings." This is because he likes cockroaches, thinking that both them and Aspies are misunderstood; likes it as a symbol. In Montana, they have "moose dropping" candies in stores everywhere, so I was copying that and thought it was quite funny.

He left around 7:30, so about four hours after he got here. It was definitely warm enough to sit on the porch comfortably, which is what made it possible. The last half hour or so did get a little chilly, but not too much, and it was warm until then. So, then, I managed to do a meet-up with someone without compromising my health and sanity by allowing a scented person in my apartment, yet still have fun with them and not inconvenience them. Porches can be wonderful things! 55 degree weather in December is a rare treat. I realized I never have spent much time in my life just sitting on porches and talking to people. Usually it is either too cold or too hot. So, a nice experience.

Good to finally accomplish a goal of finally having someone come visit me. Hope it continues.
And hope he has a safe drive home tonight.

And I am majorly obsessed with rugelah now and plan to ask my NYC relatives to bring some when they come.

Will post pictures when I get them!

Kate