With every text I sent I wished that she could be sitting next to me, and every time she called I envied the states separating us. Needless to say, when my phone screen lit up with the image of a flight confirmation, I started counting down the minutes until I would be reunited with my best friend.
When the day of Julia's arrival finally came, I raced to the airport with my humble sign and waited anxiously at the gate for the first glimpse of Julia's chacos, blue kavu bag, blonde hair, and contagious smile.
After dropping bags off at home, our first stop was to a Philly classic: Dalessandro's Steaks.
Julia, like a classic Philadelphian, ordered her cheesesteak "one whiz with," while I held up the line explaining that I had brought my own gluten free roll and dairy free cheese.
After a filling lunch, we stopped at Wawa (Julia's first time!) to get candy and we off to the movies to see one of our favorite novels adapted into a screenplay- Paper Towns. We talked about the movie over a slightly romantic dinner at Redstone, which of course would not be complete without a Steph allergy issue (the wings came with cheese on them?).
In order to introduce Julia to all my friends in the easiest way possible, I did the only logical thing: I brought her to a party. Everyone greeted her with hugs, already knowing everything about her due to my countless stories and updates (did you know Julia golfed a 84 today? Isn't that impressive!). Julia proved herself to be the life of the party, beating the guys at pull ups and singing ever word to Bailando- Spanish Version. The constant socialization only paused for one moment, when we received a very important video via Whatssapp (besos), but after a quick cry and moment to compose our(my)selves, we were back dancing the "Costa Rican dance" and pulling boys off Julia (guys, she has a boyfriend).
The next day was all about the city, and we covered as much ground as possible in the time we had allotted. After stops at Rittenhouse, City Hall, and Love Park, we hopped on the subway (more on that later) and headed eastbound towards Penn's Landing.
We were pleasantly surprised by the "Christmas in July" theme of the Blue Cross River Rink and we spent our time making flower crowns, skating, getting our picture with Santa, and eating some authentic Philadelphia Water Ice (fun fact: they have Rita's in Atlanta but don't have 'water ice'). When our legs felt like jello and were dangerously close to causing a wipe out, we traded in our skates for converse and made our way down to Harbor Park where we scoped out a hammock and lounged.
We had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants: Continental, and provided Julia with a meal that she couldn't pass up: brussel sprouts and french fries. Saving just enough room for Franklin Fountain ice cream, we left and walked down to one of Philadelphia's oldest creameries. Its then that the fun starts...
Me and Jules ran down the steps into the subway station, where most conveniently, a subway was patiently waiting our arrival. I hopped right on, allowing the doors to close between me and my tourist of a friend with no knowledge of public transportation. Equipped with both her phone and subway pass, I sped away, watching her expression of shock disappear into the tunnels. After a brief cry, I got off at the first stop and headed on the first subway back, and when I arrived, Julia was nowhere to be seen. The events that followed are a blur, but consisted of me crying, calling my mom, running to different subway stops, sitting with a homeless man, and ultimately staring at Julia's phone screen for 15 minutes until the long awaited call came: "Steph, I'm at the Frankford Transportation Center." After hearing those words, I hopped on the first subway and met my friend whom I hadn't seen in over an hour. Luckily, what came next was one of the only things that could have cheered me up in that moment- the best view of Philly you could hope for.
Me and Julia stared at the skyline from the 33rd floor of the Loews hotel, having a Paper Towns moment and laughing at the horrid situation that just occurred, agreeing to hold hands for the rest of our time spent in the city. After a mad dash for a train that had left 5 minutes ago, we got on a different line and headed to a station that my car was not at (what would I do without Robbie?).
We topped off the day with marshmallows and graham crackers, sitting by Pat's fire pit and listening to good music.
The next morning came the surprise that I had kept secret from my best friend, which is really impressive if you know anything about me and secrets. We met up with Rosie, a friend of ours from Panama, and ate brunch at Chestnut Hill's finest and most Instagram-worthy restaurant, Cake. After shoving down french toast and an omelet, we said our goodbyes and headed to the zoo where we spent the rest of the afternoon.
For dinner, we joined my parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents at a small Italian restaurant. I, of course, had difficulty placing an order, but besides that we enjoyed our food and each others' presence. For our last night, we decided with a nice movie night in, where I forced Julia to watch one of my all time favorites: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. After confirming our traveling pants personality matches (Julia=Lena, Me=Bridget) and agreeing to start our own sisterhood, we engaged in a classic midnight Wawa run and watched Clueless until we slept.
The next morning was a sad one, driving to the airport with my best friend in the passenger seat and driving home alone, but I have nothing but smiles and good memories to remember her stay by (even the subway story doesn't seem as scary looking back). Once Julia landed in Atlanta, we went right back to our old ways, texting and calling daily, awaiting the next time our strings cross and bring us
back together.
The way I figure it, everyone gets a miracle, mine came to me in the form of a best friend.
TQM