Spring Break

It was just a few days after Mark stepped off the train that we flew out to Durham for Spring Break. Elizabeth and family left the same day for Breckenridge for their ski trip with Alison and Jim. Our plan was to spend a few days with Matthew, then head to Charlottesville to meet Debbie. I hadn’t seen her for three years, so it was going to be a special reunion. At Matthew’s, I did my usual thing of cleaning up his front yard. It gives me pleasure to weed his flower beds and clear the yard of fallen twigs. We relaxed at his house before checking into the Durham Hotel, then meeting him and Liz, the person he’s been dating, at a restaurant downtown. It was fun getting to know her a bit, and reassuring to see Matthew enjoying a new relationship. He asked us to come over the next afternoon for an early dinner he wanted to prepare for us. We spent that Sunday morning at Duke Gardens, and the early blooming of flowers—and even cherry trees—was a sight to see. I wanted to see Duke Chapel again, and we found the direct access to campus from the gardens. Whenever we walk into that church, I think of Brendan playing that magnificent organ for services. Later, back at Matthew’s, he and Liz prepared vegetable spring rolls for us. And when Matthew invited us to stay for his Sunday night band practice, we decided to stick around. It was great to see Blake again after so long a time. We sat in the front living room and loved listening to their music for an hour or so. We spent one more evening with Matthew and Liz for pizza at one of his favorite spots, and the next morning we headed for Charlottesville. The days we spent with Debbie were completely relaxing: walking the downtown and talking politics at the outdoor cafes, browsing through the artsy shops and bookstores, seeing the University of Virginia again, and eating dinners at the rooftop bar of our hotel. The last morning, as we had breakfast at the hotel cafe, it started to snow. What a perfect ending, and what a nice drive to Amherst to see our old duplex and on to Lynchburg to revisit Mark’s hospital where it all began. We took a drive to the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Peaks of Otter, and then decided to stop in Bedford for the D-Day Memorial, before heading back to Matthew. After a dinner out together, we said our goodbyes, and we caught our flight back home the next morning.