A Living Magazine - Day 348 - Homecoming - Nashua: Close Friends Close By

My dreams before waking were disturbing. There is no other way to say it. As with the night before, they consisted of images, failed encounters with people and disappointment. And, again, when I awoke I rose above it all, brushing it off of me like so many light-orange pine needles, swirled into the air of my presence by a cruel but temporary gust of wind.

And, this would be a good day.

I walked down to Market Basket and worked for a while, when I received a message from my good friend, Jeff. He was in town and was headed over to meet up with me. Before he got there, I also read another message from my lovely friend Joyce, offering to take me out for a dinner or drink. She'd sent it the night before about 15 minutes after I'd left for the sleep spot. I'd missed it, but sent her back a note saying I'd still be up for something on this night.

Jeff arrived and we talked for a while. He had errands to do around town, including a trip to Best Buy. We agreed that this would be an excellent opportunity to find a new card reader or USB adapter to fit my tablet directly, without the need for using the attached keyboard. He also suggested we have lunch with his wife, Ann, who I'd never met in person. She worked right there in Nashua, and together they had a favorite Vietnamese restaurant called, Thanh Thanh that he wanted me to check out with them.

He called her from the parking lot before we pulled out and she agreed to meet him at the restaurant, not knowing that I would join them. Jeff likes to surprise people. Ha! He showed me around town a bit.

He'd lived there many years ago in a remodeled mill apartment. We drove by the very large building that had thousands of square feet, like many other old mills in New England renovated for such purposes. He also showed me the gilded eagle atop the Town Hall, and told me the story behind it. Apparently the state capital commissioned the eagle but rejected it, because they thought it looked somewhat fascist. So, Nashua said they'd take it. And now, there it is.

We met Ann at the restaurant and she was definitely surprised to see me. We went in and sat down. Ann is part Vietnamese and I had a wonderful time talking to her and Jeff about how the food is cooked. Pho - a "Vietnamese noodle soup consisting of broth, linguine-shaped rice noodles called bánh phở, a few herbs, and meat, primarily served with either beef or chicken" - is one of the most fundamental dishes in Vietnamese cuisine. Jeff and Ann eat it regularly. It is what I ordered.

I have a lot of experience with Asian food (Chinese, Japanese, and Thai), both eating it and cooking it. But, beside watching a few shows about food in Vietnam, I'd never actually eaten it. This was my chance. When it arrived, they showed me the proper way to dress it, adding basil, hot peppers, and sauces. I'd chosen beef option.

Ann, and later Jeff, explained that the method of making Pho is not like western methods of cooking soup. Rather, Pho's preparation starts with the separation of all the ingredients. The broth is heated to a very high temperature, and poured over the noodles and thinly sliced raw beef (thus cooking it quickly), with the vegetables being added. This preserves the taste of each individual flavor, instead of soaking the ingredients all the way through with broth. I loved this idea.

My dish was delicious. The beef had such a soft texture. The vegetables were crunchy. The noodles were thin and supple. All of the elements were there: sweet, salty, spicy, bitter, or sour. Nothing overruled anything else. We also enjoyed spring rolls which were large and consisted of lettuce, seasonings and shrimp tails, rolled in softened rice paper, with a peanut dipping sauce. There were also egg rolls, with fish sauce. Terrific meal and wonderful company.

Ann was on her lunch break and needed to leave. We hugged and looked forward to getting together again as soon as we could. Jeff and I sat talking at the table for a while and then headed out to Best Buy.

In all the weeks I'd been looking for the hardware solutions to my SD card problems, I'd not considered Best Buy. When we got there I asked the salesman if he had what I needed. He didn't think so, but offered to go out back and look for things that weren't on display. He returned with precisely what I needed. I was thrilled! Jeff also found what he was looking for. Very successful trip.

He brought me back to Market Basket. I thanked him for helping me out, yet again and treating me to such a fantastic lunch. When he'd left I tried out my new adapter and it worked perfectly. There would be no more loss of data now--a big weight off my mind.

When I got back online and resumed working, I saw that Joyce had responded and we planned to meet there and then head out to dinner at 6:30 p.m.

When the time arrived, I met her out front. It had been 17 years since we'd seen each other in person, though we'd been in close contact online for most of the years inbetween. She's the one who softens up hotels for me, letting them know about my expired ID. She has given the necessary legitimacy to my project for these places. I would not have been able to stay at most of the hotels I've been to without her help.

She looked great! And, she had the same unique and hilarious sense of humor that I remembered. She really is one of a kind. We decide to go to Texas Roadhouse. I'd never been. It was a raucous place, absolutely packed. Joyce led me through the process of ordering there, and made good suggestions about what to get. It'd been a long time since I'd had a steak, I decided on a  New York Strip, with a salad and stuffed mashed potatoes.

Someone celebrating his 21st birthday.

We got caught up, and fell right back into the silliness we used get into. We have a kind of language, our own version of English. She had me laughing most of the time. We also discussed our health issues, UFO's, her brother (my old roommate and good friend), her husband, Jeff (a different one), her little girls, and our families.

When the food arrived we dove right in. My meal was excellent. The salad had a bit of everything and the potatoes were over-the-top rich. The steak was quite large, cooked very rare (the way I like it). Somehow, I actually ate the entire thing. We considered dessert, but I already felt like I'd be able to roll out the door like a giant ball of steak, potato, and salad, with a little Pho to top it off.

We drove back to the Market Basket parking lot since my sleep spot was close by,  and talked for quite a while longer. I was fascinated to hear about how her business, Cold Bee Gone (see her ad at the bottom of this page--the stuff really works!), was growing and all of the facets that were coming together for her. The time came when I had to get back to the sleep spot. We said goodbye with a big hug, intending to get together again this summer.

Walking back to the sleep spot I wondered what things might have been like if I'd never left Maine. Quite frankly, I think I would have been dead by now. The line of my life was headed down at an alarming rate. I felt thankful at this second chance to make something of myself.

I did not yet realize that things were going to become much harder.

I set up and climbed into the tent, first drinking a shooter bottle of Grey Goose Vodka that Joyce had given me. It was the perfect sleeping pill, but it's pleasant effects would not last long.