Our trip was lovely but exhaustingly hot and I just couldn’t face doing anything more strenuous than eating ice cream and napping on the couch when we got home last night. So Thursday’s regular Three Beautiful Things appear today instead:

1. Eri and the Internet gods made it possible for us to take Amtrak to New York for a very reasonable price. The train takes about the same amount of time as driving (although maybe a little less), but you don’t have to find a parking spot for it. And while it takes more time than flying, it is more spacious, they let you use electronic devices the whole time, and they don’t forbid cell phones (unless you want to avoid them by travelling on the Quiet Car). We experienced a few difficulties with their 1-800 number, but the people at the station were kind and helpful. Overall a very nice experience.

2. We made reservations over the weekend to take a long weekend trip to visit Rudi’s mom in September. She has been cajoling us to visit her for a while, but I think she thought it might be a lost cause as we head into the fall semester. The fact that the Yarn Harlot will be speaking a few blocks from Jenny’s house has nothing (nothing, I say!) to do with the timing of our visit.

3. Karen’s Michael remarked that he thought it unusual that people a decade out of college should still have such close bonds as I do with some of my college friends. It hadn’t occurred to me, but I suppose it’s true. But I have whole handfuls of people from college I am still in touch with (at least around birthdays and Christmas if not more frequently) and who sometimes read the blog (hi!), so I guess I am remarkably lucky. Maybe it helps that most of us were, at one point or another, part of the substance-free crowd in college, so we were a tightly knit bunch of characters to begin with. But there were plenty of other folks who were also part of that community at the same time with whom I never had a bond or with whom I lost touch, so I don’t think that accounts for it wholly. But whatever the reason, enduring friendships are a truly beautiful thing and I am grateful for all of mine.

Rudi and I are heading north on Amtrak in the morning to join friends Karen and Michael, Erica, and Erik (and maybe old college pal Mike) for An Evening with Harry, Carrie, and Garp.

That’s right. By this point tomorrow I will have been in the same room with J.K. Rowling.

Oh yeah, and some guys named John Irving and Stephen King.

I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We’re hoping to meet Karen and Michael for lunch at some point tomorrow afternoon. We might go see Debbie Stoller of Stitch and Bitch fame give a talk at lunchtime, depending on when Karen and Michael arrive. Otherwise, we’ll be seeking a museum filled with air conditioning for refuge from the hottest day of the summer.

I probably won’t have internet access tomorrow, so expect a full report on Thursday night after we get off the train.