Nomad Life - Day 25

All things considered (Bradley Airport airplane traffic, hotel, HVAC noises), I slept pretty well until about 0430.  Unfortunately, my neighbor (a younger lady) started having a loud conversation on the phone at that point and I kept getting startled awake by angry shouts.  This ultimately continued until about 0700 - before then, though, I'd given up on sleeping and started my day.  In addition to telework, I also did some reading and printing of various documents I've been storing for over a week.  Most of the time, though, was dominated by a call I had to make with the IT Service Desk - after an hour of troubleshooting, they determined that my laptop needed to be replaced and we spent time trying to coordinate an overnight delivery plan.  As a result of this major disruption to my normal routine, I decided to skip breakfast (the hotel didn't provide one) and continued teleworking all the way up to the latest possible check out time (1100) and then I loaded up my car for another move.  The day was unusually overcast, with occasional rain drops, but the temps were still pleasant (70s).  Departing the Motel 6 Windsor Locks, I drove (via I-91, US-5 and a series of back roads) across the eastern suburbs of Hartford until I reached the town of Manchester.  My reason for heading in that direction was that a college friend, Kelly S., had agreed to meet with me for lunch at a restaurant called Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana (she called it "a famous New Haven and Connecticut Pizza place").   I arrived there at 1130 and, when I went inside, we had a nice reunion.  It's possibly been almost 30 years since the last time we got together (we met during our Freshman Year at Notre Dame and only saw each other once after graduation) but it seemed like only yesterday.  The menu was almost entirely pizza so it made the choice of lunch fare quite easy.  We chose a sort of meat lovers pizza - medium size - and, when it arrived, it was clear that Pepe's meant business!  The pie was huge and there was sooo much meat on it.  Needless to say, we never got anywhere near finishing it...  By 1300, we'd eaten our fill and Kelly suggested I follow her towards her home in nearby Glastonbury - somehow, I kept up with her as we drove along busy local highways (including I-384) and back roads.  Arriving at her beautiful house (well established residential area with lots of trees and big yards) by 1330, she helped me resume my teleworking.  For the next few hours, I caught up on projects and she checked in on me from time to time.  By 1600, I was finished with my work day and closed up my computers.  From there, we toured her home (decorated so amazingly!), visited in her spacious "den" and, later, sat outside on her comfortable patio.  Mollie called during this window and I spoke with her briefly.  However, Kelly's husband, Steve, soon arrived, followed by their two daughters (Megan and Maura), and I asked Mollie if we could talk later.  For the rest of the evening, we told stories of our Notre Dame days (I also knew Steve when we attended) and shared lots of family news.  Along the way, Kelly made a delicious dinner of smashed chicken Caesar tacos, Spanish rice and brownies a la mode.  They had Long Trail beer too - I enjoyed trying a new flavor.  I learned a lot about Kelly and Steve's interesting daughters and their (absent) twin sons (Ryan and Patrick) - the biggest news (along with work stories) was the arrival of two new grandchildren (Sophie and Emma).  All was very well with my college friends and it felt good to be surrounded by such love, comfort, stability and warmth.  On this latter point, I was a bit startled by how cool the evening air got after the sun was gone (2030) and wondered where one of my long-sleeved shirts was.  Before long, though, our little party was scattering and all the windows were closed.  Steve and I looked over some old yearbooks from our ND days and we talked about a lot of mutual friends we'd seen during the intervening years - oh, the stories we had to share!  At some point, I realized it was after 2200 and that I was feeling quite tired.  My friends took me to one of their children's old bedrooms and I settled in comfortably for the evening.  It was only at that point that I realized I hadn't even got close to my normal (10K) step goal - this might be the least amount of walking I've done in many months.  Oh well...  Everything felt so warm and cozy by then and I had no trouble falling off to sleep (2245).  What a wonderful day!