New Jersey Friends (Road Trip Day 44)

Joe claims he is now trained to drive at Indy. Our four-and-a-half-hour drive from Greenbelt, Maryland to Paramus, New Jersey turned into a six-and-a -half-hour drive. Our reward at the end of the drive was to visit friends Jen and Matt in Montclair, New Jersey. While the ten miles to their home from Paramus can take 12 minutes without traffic it took us 38 minutes at 4:20 in the afternoon.

Matt greeted us in the yard as we arrived. We caught him in the middle of repairing and painting their home. This was the first time we met Matt. It was also Joe’s first-time meeting Jen. Jen and I met on the job in December 2020. When I met her the first time I fell in love with her authentic and rich personality. In addition to her solid business talent, she is a gifted artist. A couple of years ago, Jen gifted me a broach she created. The piece is titled Tree of Life. It is made with goose, Arucana duck and quail eggshells, calico crab shell, gold leaf, sterling silver, and resin. Mostly it is made with love and passion. The size is about 3/4” x 2”.

 

Jen recently completed the coursework for therapeutical horticulture. I love forest bathing and I appreciate the connection with horticulture therapy. You can read more about it at  https://www.ahta.org/about-horticultural-therapy#:~:text=Horticultural%20therapy%20helps%20improve%20memory,coordination%2C%20balance%2C%20and%20endurance.

We visited for four hours! We enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by Jen. Their son, Noel, joined us for dinner (and he graciously autographed the first book he wrote), and shared with us his new internship opportunity for the summer. Noel is finishing his first year of college.

Matt is also a gifted commercial and fine arts artist. Both Jen and Matt are well traveled so we shared stories about living internationally (Portugal for them at about the same time we were living in Cairo, Egypt).

The time together flew by. Joe and I are both grateful they made space for us in their busy schedule. Their friendship is a blessing0.

Tomorrow Joe heads into New York CIty to visit his son. I am going to take a day to read. I seem to have a strong hankering for some Stephanie Plum (Janet Evanovich character living in New Jersey for those who are not a Plum fan).