Feeling Nostalgic in Rhode Island

My third consecutive trip in June had me flying to Rhode Island to visit with friends and ended up with me feeling nostalgic.  I spent the first two days hanging out with my dearest friend from high school and my brother.  We went to the local Portuguese feast a few nights and hit up the beach on Saturday.  Even though it's been about 14 years since I lived in my hometown, there are some things that remain the same. There is a certain comfort in seeing the old familiar faces, places, and activities.

Though the ocean was much too cold for me and the cool air off the water had me wrapped in my towel by 4pm - after all I am a southerner now - I enjoyed catching up with my brother and my friend on the latest happenings in their lives.  We also enjoyed some clam cakes and fish tacos at George's of Galilee while overlooking the beach.

Clam cakes from George's

Before heading to RI, I realized I didn't have any recent pictures with my friend Juli. 
So we made sure to take a picture during the weekend.  I can't tell you how many times we've been asked if we are sisters. I think it's just the olive complexion and dark hair.


The Portuguese Social Club in my hometown brought in a famous Portuguese singer for the feast.
The picture above is Jorge Ferreira singing with his daughter.

The main reason I traveled to RI was to reunite with some friends from UVM. My college roommate invited us all to her daughter's Christening and it was amazing that everyone was able to make it!  Two girls live just north of Boston, one is in Vermont, my college roommate spends the summer in RI, and I now live in North Carolina. 2013 is our 10 year college reunion and it seems unlikely we will all make it back to Vermont for the occasion, so we opted to get together in RI. In those 10 years, all 5 of us have gotten married. During our gathering there were 6 children ages 6 months to 3.5 years and they were the most well-behaved group I've ever seen.  The newest baby was born July 3rd and another is due mid-late August.  

During our brief get-together, it was fun to talk about memories of our freshman year in college (we all lived in the same dorm together), going to Cancun for Spring Break, and all that has happened since then.  Our lives sure are different than they were 10 years ago!

Millis 2-High (plus Erin from Millis 4) 14 years later

I left RI feeling glad to have seen so many wonderful friends, but sad to leave them all. It's great to have friends living in various places throughout the US, but it would be nice to be able to see each other more than every few years, especially now that so many have expanding families and kids that grow so quickly.  This group has been the easiest to reunite with since we all have close ties to the Boston/RI area and I'm grateful for that.