A Tale of Two Cities

London and Los Angeles…both begin with the letter L, both are large, both are cosmopolitan, and both saw a Schultz making memories with friends this week.  Ken spent the week in London for a business conference and work while I stayed in LA to continue house renovations.  However, one of the most ironic parts of this story deals with British friends of ours who are currently touring parts of the US.  Right about the time I picked them up to begin our tour of Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica, Ken was boarding a plane to fly to London.  Our friends laughed that Ken didn’t have to travel quite so far just to avoid seeing them, while Ken joked with them that he misunderstood and thought we were meeting on their home turf.  Although we missed Ken joining in our fun, Jan, Ian and I thoroughly enjoyed our time together as we reminisced and caught up on each other’s lives.

On the other side of the pond in England, Ken got to meet up with our dear friends, Rahul, Radhika, and their son Rohan.  As I have always cherished Radhika and her friendship, I felt a twinge of jealousy of Ken’s time with her and her 2 guys.  The four of them had such a great time, though, with Rohan and Ken Uncle teasing and playing their typical games together.  Radhika sent me several pictures and joked that since I couldn’t be with them, she would plan a month long trip to see me…I told her to count me in for that idea.  Besides his work time and meeting with several clients and business associates, Ken managed to fit in a bit of entertainment including a West End show, a London walking tour, the V&A Museum, and a taste of liquid nitrogen ice cream (hope he comes back normal after that concoction).

Continuing the birthday festivities a little longer, my friend, Patrick, suggested that I ride the coat tails of his birthday get-together.  As his birthday is next week, and mine was last week, this seemed a perfect blend.  So, several friends met up at one of my favorite LA spots where Patrick sings regularly taking on the songs and sounds of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.  Not only did he give a birthday shout out to me, but he and the band sang happy birthday as well.  The group stayed until well after 1am, something I haven’t done in quite some time, but the celebratory atmosphere made the late night worthwhile.

So although we had to spend the week apart, the experiences with our friends whom we both adore spread across the vast expanse to join us together through stories and tales shared.  And the memories we each made helped ease the hardship of time in two different cities.