Almost Normal

 "Robbert wants to come," Rick said.

We were settled in our Swiss studio, each engaged in our writing projects.

Robbert, RB2 or Father Robbert, is a friend of almost 30 years. We shared a company flat 1990-1993, We officiated at each other's marriages. In fact he met his wife through one of our weekend trips to Argelés. I've described him as the brother I always wanted.

At 16H a masked man appeared. Strange not to do the two or three cheek greeting depending if we were in Switzerland or France nor a hug.

We decided to go for coffee at the post-tearoom-mini-grocery in Corsier Village at the edge of the vineyards. Unlike the photo above, there are tables and chairs.

Sherlock settled in Rick's lap and from his perch he could greet the two big white dogs or maybe they were small ponies, that wandered over. They seemed to know Rick keeps dog biscuits in his pocket.

How good it was to catch up. RB2 is currently working in Zurich and goes back and forth to Southern France like we do. So often we are in one country and he is in the other, that being in the same country at the same time is a treat.

The owner likes to speak English and we joked with him about tea choices. Only when he wanted to close, did we leave.

Our next stop was a farm where we could let Sherlock run. One of the crops I didn't recognize, another was what looked like wheat. One field was full of wild flowers all delicate pinks, yellows and whites.

By now it was dinner time and we headed for Marroniers, a restaurant that over the last decade I've eaten hundreds of times. This is the first week it has been open since the shutdown. It didn't matter that they were out of gazpacho. The goat cheese salad was good. 

RB2 had an hour and a half drive back to Neuchâtel where he is currently staying. We discussed when we might overlap in a country again. It could be a month or several months.

This was our first café sit, our first restaurant meal, our first sharing with a friend at a table since the shutdown in March. It felt WONDERFU almost normal.

Why almost?

We usually don't wear masks with friends, although we removed them to eat and drink.

And although RB2 and I and more recently with Rick have shared some of the best and worst things in our lives, we never before shared hand sanitizer.