Old friends

 

Earlier in the week, we invited Silviu to go with us to Vistea, but he stayed home because he'd just gotten the news that Traian's cancer has returned. 

Traian is Silviu's best friend. They talk on the phone several times a day, double that if a football match is on. (There's a pre-game, intermission, and post-game conversation.) 

So the return of the cancer is bad news and Silviu is in a funk. 

Fortunately Silviu and Traian have other close friends, namely: Radu, Marcella, Carmen, Cornelia, Nuța, and Mioara. These friends decided that what everyone needed was a party, and so a party was thrown.

We bought the food and they bought the champagne and made all of the preparations, including the cooking, which goes a long way in my book of reasons why I like a person.

Another reason for me to like a person is if they thoroughly embrace an afternoon spent eating, drinking champagne, singing songs, and laughing. Extra points if they don't mind my heavily accented and poorly constructed Romanian. Not only did these folks ignore how badly I butcher their language, they never once tried to force me to pronounce anything correctly. Then they stayed and helped wash the dishes afterward. At that point I was ready to hand out Friend of the Year awards for everyone.

It was a traditional Romanian party menu with plates of salată de vinete, salami, caşcaval, smoked fish, gogoşi, tomatoes, icre, bread, and palikă. 

There were no less than two cakes, the aforementioned champagne, and―because why not―fire works.

With his usual good humor, Lucian endured all of the old folks (me included) telling him what he and Mircea were like as babies and little boys. He hung out with us for the entire afternoon and everyone loved him for it.

Where will we all be two years from now when Mihai and I return? Will Lucian be off on his own adventures? Will Mihai and I stay in Obedin or will we be up north in Viştea? Will Traian be successfully surviving his recurrence of cancer? No one has the answers to these questions and maybe that's what made the afternoon all that much more special―the feeling that this moment in time shouldn't be quickly brushed aside and forgotten, but savored, and stored in the place where precious memories are kept. The place that's full of music and laughter, good food and even better friends, and, of course, champagne.