My first destination was Aabrock and Nikita’s place in Cary, NC, but my first actual stop was at a party at Nikita’s parents’ house across town. The guest of honor was Nikita’s aunt, visiting from Tehran, who announced that I had gained weight since she last saw me several years ago at Aabrock and Nikita’s wedding (at which she announced that I had lost weight since the engagement party). The comment didn’t faze me, for it was true.

Anyhow, at the soirée, we feasted on chicken legs, a really good rice dish, another slightly less impressive rice dish, and some green stuff. I remember none of the names and hardly any of the ingredients of the recipes, but I rest assured that Nikita will provide them.  

Afterwards, it was over to their home and off to beddy-bye in their guest room. I know I mentioned this in an earlier post, but that room could easily have served as a sensory deprivation chamber. It was on the bottom floor, slightly cool, dead quiet, and pitch black with the lights out–no windows to let light through, no clocks to give ambient light, nothing. It was so cut off from the world that there wasn’t even a cell signal. I woke up relaxed and refreshed in complete darkness the next morning. I found my watch, hit the Indiglo button–it was 9 AM. I was impressed.

Nikita was busy with conference calls most of the day, so Aabrock and I hung out, talking about work, movies, television shows, and politics. We went out to eat, leaving Nikita behind–which was probably good, considering she’s a very healthy eater and cook. She would never have let Aabrock eat the fried chicken tender appetizer, the half-pound bacon double-pizza burger or the baked potato smothered with sour cream, bacon and chives, much less let him wash it down with a pitcher of soda and a pitcher of beer. She might‘ve let the caramel-drenched banana split slide. We came up with a good cover story for dinner: organic salads with fat-free dressings and bottled water.

We returned to the house, and spent the remaining evening chit-chatting with Nikita. The highlight was when she asked whether I had any current romantic interests. I told her some stories, then said, “Well, there’s this one girl who reminds me an awful lot of you.” She said, “Then that’s The One. You can forget everyone else.”

Net result of the visit: I caught up with old friends, ate well, slept well, and got my future wife picked for me. I’ll just have to remember to invite Nikita’s aunt to the wedding.

Next stop: Central Virginny.