Love lunch 2

There’s a reason there are no chipmunks In Alabama

Chipmunks. Lots of them. Herds of Chipmunks, I said.

I counted eight under the bird feeder.

Later that day, the upstate New York NPR radio announced the same — “yup herds of chipmunks”.

We laughed, Darlene and I.

Darlene driving with conviction, raising dust in her wake, rolled down their private drive, Kimball’s Lane, with her husband Richard at her side. Freshly radiated for his Merkel cell carcinoma, Richard heaved a raspy laugh and said, Regina listen! I hurried from their porch, spooking chipmunks left and right, and stuck my head in their car, catching the last words of the broadcast — Herds of Chipmunks…

I returned to NY from Alabama for a funeral, my step mom’s funeral. I hadn’t been back north for nearly five years. I abruptly left New York for warmer weather and kinder living for my husband — and for me too, I guess. Ben, my husband worries I will long for the friendships I have in New York, for the lush mountains, creeks, and cruel cold. Nope I told him. No.

I love where I am, here in the Deep South, the Northern Gulf of Mexico coast. I miss my New York family and friends too. But there are ways to communicate with loved ones from afar.

I do however miss chipmunks. They don’t do facebook…