My Friend

I just finished emailing a friend that I have had for 25 years. She is the mother of my ex-boyfriend from my 2 year stint on a cruise ship in Hawaii, and we only met after he and I broke up. She was coming to my town and just had to meet me, even though her son was in Hawaii and I was in California.
I was happy to meet her and we hit it off from the first moment we met. We stayed in touch with phone calls and letters. I kept her informed of my new squeeze, my engagement, my wedding, my pregnancy. When our son was 3 months old, she came to California for another visit. That was the last time I saw her until last year.
It took me 19 years to finally arrange a visit to her home in Minnesota. I asked my hubby first if it was OK, and he gave me his blessings.
We had a splendid visit. I was wined and dined and given the full treatment. I had to sneakily pay for lunch one afternoon at the arboretum where they are so heavily involved. What a gorgeous place. I asked her hubby if he visualized the beautiful green rolling hills into a 1st class golf course and he told me, "everyday." They really know how to grow trees in that state. What a funny, kind man my ex-boyfriend's father is. His parents had been politicians in his home state, and he loves to talk politics. We had some great debates standing in the kitchen, or over lunch at the St. Paul Hotel, where coincidentally, the Republican Convention was held (or thereabouts) last year. My friend couldn't care less about talking politics, but she tolerated our polite little discussions. Believe me, they were polite. That's practically a miracle when it comes to the passion of politics. We were mostly on the same side, so it was pretty easy.
Our 5 days passed quickly, and I would do it again in a minute. I hope I am the kind of host that people would want to come back to see me.