Dobbs Ferry

Marc and Linda were so important to us during our time in New York. That they populate so many posts from 2009 when I started this blog, speaks to that.  They were our best friends and confidantes at a time when we had virtually no family or other friends close by. They both had both family and friends all over the place, and still spent so much time with us.

I always felt that Marc understood what it was like living on an opposite coast from the bulk of close family, having done so for years in San Luis. I also always felt that being around Corrie and I was relaxing for him, like he could happily be his own dirty hippie self and feel at ease. There are plenty of upstate-dirty-hippie-types, but left on their own in the City they either conform or move back upstate. There are plenty of stoners in New York, but Phish loving dirty hippies need a moor of some kind.

That's where Corrie and I came in. We provided that rock; we were laid-back California folks, no matter how harried the day-to-day got---and it was always full of stress---and some people really liked it and our energy. Other's never warmed up, and I understood. I got it...but being that laid-back-Caliboy steroetype is what aloowed me to "get it." That, or empathy...

Anyway, it took about a half an hour of hanging out with Linda to feel at home again. We talked about parenthood, about schools, about travels, about what to make for dinner, and just like that it was just as it had been, eight years before became yesterday.

They came out to visit California before I broke my leg, and soon after called back to announce that Linda was pregnant. We were all so close that Marc joked that it was our couch that helped them conceive. I told him in full honesty that that would have been an honor.

During our visit to Hillsdale and Otium for Lizzie's wedding, we met Marco, then six months old. On that same trip we met Corrie's cousin Josh's daughter, Emlyn, just a month older than Marco.

This trip was our first chance to see both kiddos again, now at four and a half.

Marc and Linda had their daughter, Laila, two years to the day before Cass, so as he turned 1 this year, she was turning 3. As always, he's mesmerized by girls:

I was also pretty sure his first intelligible word was "Laila," but he never repeated it. Anyway, they moved to a condo in Dobbs Ferry in 2009, and were looking at a house when we came through in 2013. They since got that house.

Up the street from their place is a nice little collection of trails, reminding hikers what the greeted the first waves of humanity to the North Atlantic region:

My camera always makes things look more purple that they render with the human eye. Whatever.

I was wearing Cass for the duration of the hike, the vast majority of which he slept through. He woke as we finished up the loop, and I directed his attention to a deer chilling on the edges of the park, possibly macking on some garden offerings:

With storm clouds looming, after an all to brief stay, we went our separate ways: we headed to the Berkshires further north up the Hudson Valley while Marc and Linda and brood headed east to Cape Cod for the week.

I'm going to mention their house in later post, as it was cool and probably the most "normal" place we stayed.