I’m in Utah for a week. When I first began thinking about what I’d want to do on a sabbatical, one of the first things that came to mind was to take the chance to visit my oldest and dearest friends. One lives in Utah and the other in Arizona. I’ve been friends with them since I was 12, so almost 40 years. Because everyone has kids and jobs and busy lives, we typically only see each other once a year on a weekend we specifically carve out to spend time with each other.

As I age and appreciate how precious these friendships are, it’s important to me to spend time with these women I love. So when I planned the dates for my sabbatical, I started saving my money to also plan dates to come west.

Unlike our annual girls’ weekend, where we abandon our regular lives for 3 or 4 days, I’ve dropped in on my friend Amy’s everyday life for a full week. Yesterday I rode with her to drop her 9th grade daughter at school, we grocery shopped, she fixed her smoker while I went for a run in the desert, I kept her company while she seasoned salmon and thawed chicken to smoke. In the afternoon, I rode with her to pick her daughter up from school, where I got to meet her boyfriend who came up to the car and chatted us up in the parking lot. When we got home, I ate after school cake with her so I could hear all about her friend drama and who did what at school.

The four of us ate family dinner together at the table, and then I rode along again with Amy to drop her daughter off at rehearsals. She’s in a theater company, and next week is opening night for the Les Miserables production she’s in. We sat in on rehearsals for a while and I got to meet the people in Amy and her daughter’s life. I got to see what warmups are like for a theater production, and I got to witness these amazing kids act and sing.

At the end of the day, after a trip to the craft store and the hardware store so Amy could got materials for props she crafts for the theater company, we three adults sat outside under the stars by the fire pit Amy designed, and I sipped Campfire whiskey from Utah’s High West distillery.

Right now, their house is just waking up. I get to use Amy’s Vitamix, which I’m very excited about. When I got up, though, all the lights were out and the bedrooms dark, and I didn’t want to wake them, so I blogged instead. Now I can crank this bad boy up to fortify myself with a smoothie bowl for our big day ahead. After school drop-off, Amy and I are taking a day trip south, to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. I’ve got my camera packed! And tomorrow, we head to Vegas to pick up our other friend of 40 years, who will join us through the weekend 🎉