At the party/reception Saturday night, after having circled the room about seven times, chatting with everyone I knew and some who I never had known during college, I turned to Andrea and said, “There are a couple people I really wish were here. One is Aerlyn, I wonder where she is these days.” After having that thought I was quickly distracted again by the parade of familiar yet foreign faces that was the weekend and moved on to another topic.

I got to spend some time Saturday night reconnecting with Brendan, a guy who had lived in my freshman hall, and had been in my core class that same year. He is living in Portland these days, working hard to create a successful musical career (while delivering cookie baskets in order to pay his bills). His band, The Bee Sighed, was scheduled to play a show Sunday night at Mississippi Pizza, a venue my sister has played at many times, and when he told me, I knew I needed to make a point of going. When Andrea and I got back to Portland Sunday night, we grabbed my sister and my dad and headed over there for pizza and music. We struggled a bit finding a place to sit, but eventually were situated with pizza and beverages, just before the guys started their first set. I was standing, talking to a friend of my sister’s that we had run into when I heard Andrea calling my name and saying in an excited voice, “look who’s here!” Turning around, Aerlyn was standing right in front of me. The universe heard me say I’d like to see her and delivered her to our table. Saying it was good to see her doesn’t really convey what a delight it was to have her appear there in that moment. It was the perfect ending to an intense, slightly trippy, joyful, sometimes awkward, but truly worthwhile weekend.