Great night

— Party up in Westchester at my friend and agent’s house. It was her birthday.

— I drove!

— Picked up Jen – which meant I had to drive into Manhattan – my first trip (I mean, I’ve driven in New York before, but years ago) – and it was hysterical. LIke: UTTER. MADNESS. Of course I come out of the Lincoln Tunnel – and had to deal with the traffic swirl around Port Authority and then 8th Avenue … The main thing to remember is that the lines painted on the avenues to delineate lanes are merely suggestions. There really ARE no lanes.

— Off we went. Up the Saw Mill Parkway.

— An hour out of the city – in the darkness and beauty of Westchester. The moon was so beautiful that I had to avoid looking at it because I thought I might drive off the road in ecstasy. Huge, glowing, golden – with mountains and valleys clearly seen from Planet Earth.

— Jen and I haven’t seen each other in a while (I haven’t seen most of my friends in a while!! It’s been a crazy month) – so we caught up on her trip to Dallas, her film, my trip to Taos, Dean Stockwell saying, “Hit the button eeasy …”, my new car, my writing, her teaching, the men in our lives, and basically life in general. All the while: LOOK AT ME DRIVING, YO.

— You can’t park in Barbara’s driveway – because it’s too short, and the road has no shoulder … so she had arranged for us who were commuting up from the city to park our cars in an empty lot across from a church – and she had a huge limo/van service shuttle people back and forth the entire night. People were taking the Metro North up, too, from the city – so he also was engaged to go pick people up at the trains, etc. So Jen and I successfully find, in the middle of nowhere, the empty lot. It was a chilly autumn night. We had to just stand there and wait for the limo dude. It was night. Across the lot was a white picket fence and beyond it was an old country cemetery. It was so beautiful to be out in nature, especially with that spectacular moon soaring over everything! Jen and I spent our time waiting howling with laughter about our voice class, and our crazy wonderful teacher Nova – who has to be experienced to be believed. Snapping at a fellow student, in her operatic Southern accent: “Kara, you are gonna stop your whirlin’ and you’re gonna stop your twirlin’. That is not work, that is a nervous breakdown!”

— A couple other cars pulled up – obviously Manhattanites who were also going to Barbara’s party. Then finally: the huge van shows up. In we all get and off to the party.

— Barbara and Dana (her husband) have a gorgeous house surrounded by woods. Jack-o-lanters glimmered on the front porch. The party was already raging – and we walked into the warmest most wonderful atmosphere possible. Barbara – her hair platinum, long, fantastic – was greeting everyone – we were all just laughing and hugging – so excited! There was so much booze that it looked like a high school kegger. Barbara had put up signs everywhere: COATS THIS WAY. BEER IN FRIDGE. On the table was a huge spread of food. Also with signs: CHOCOLATE IS TOXIC TO DOGS. Molly (the dog) with an adorable yellow kerchief around her neck strolled around the party, padding by on her big fat paws, on a mission to eat anything that dropped from anyone’s plate ANYWHERE. But remember: chocolate is toxic to dogs!!

— Barbara is the kind of person who has dear friends from every phase of her life. There were people there who knew her when she was 6. Her childhood piano teacher was there. Her friends from publishing were there. Her actor friends were there. Her friends from church were there. I love people who maintain connections like that. I am similar … and I feel really grateful. It’s the old old friends who really have your back, who you never have to explain things to … They’re just THERE.

— Barbara said to me and Jen, “There’s someone in the living room you’re going to want to see.”

— We made our way over there – and were absolutely GOBSMACKED – to see Shelagh standing there. Shelagh: who lives in Canada, one of my dearest friends … Shelagh, whom I have to accept that I am only going to see once a year, IF THAT. Shelagh: who was supposed to be teaching in Canada at this very moment!! And yet: here she is! She had flown in – and asked Barbara to keep it a secret. Jen and I were out of our minds. WHAT? What are you DOING HERE????? It was so freakin’ exciting!!! What a treat. I last saw Shelagh in May, I think … she came to New York for a couple of days … Anyway, it was SUCH a surprise – I am amazed at how well the secret was kept, and it just made the night. I mean, it would have been awesome anyway – but to get to spend a couple of hours with Shelagh was just so awesome. We were chatterbox motormouths – we sat on the stairway with our plates of food and drinks – and caught up like maniacs. I love Shelagh. God. Great great to actually SEE her.

— There was a couple there who had been in a 5 car “pileup” on the damn Saw Mill Parkway on their way to the party. Some little old man had entered the parkway going south on the north side of the parkway. Terrifying. No one was seriously hurt – although 5 cars were pretty much totalled. And they still were at the party. I loved this woman – she was Miss Party Trick – and kept showing everyone all these crazy things – “Put two corks in your hand like this … then go like this … the trick is to switch the corks without having to blah blah blah …” So at times you’d look around and see 15 people, in the kitchen, maneuvering corks through their twisted-up hands. It was awesome.

— We drove back to the city eventually – Shelagh was staying in a B&B in the heart of Times Square – so she caught a ride back with us, which again – was such a treat!! We careened down the Saw Mill Parkway (having visions of the 5 car pileup floating through our brains) – catching up, gossiping, telling stories, reminiscing. And along the side of the Parkway – the entire way down – we saw probably, all told, 30 deer. They were everywhere. Huge groups of them, some of them were by themselves, some were nearly on the road – which was scary – but it was quite amazing to see. We were “over” them after about 10 minutes – because there were so many of them.

— Oh, and I gotta give the props to Jen: who was “navigator”. As Allison and I discovered on our trip to Ireland, it is extremely important to have a driver and a navigator. The driver must focus on her job. The navigator must calmly and unemotionally tell the driver what to do next. The navigator must never panic. Jen – who grew up in Westchester – and knows all of those parkways like the back of her hand – just let me know, calmly, “Okay, you’re gonna want to get in the right lane soon …” etc. Much appreciated. But all told: I was proud of my mad driving skillz.

— Dropped Jen off, then dropped Shelagh off – but of course we had to sit in the car for a while, really catching up. God, God, it was so good to see her!!!!

— Then, of course, after dropping her off – I thought: “Okay, I’ll just go to the end of the block, take a right … and make my way back to the Lincoln Tunnel.” It was 1:30 in the morning. This meant I found myself smack-dab in the middle of Times Square … which I perhaps would have wanted to save for when I am more at ease with the mad driving skillz – but there I was – nothing to do now but figure it out. The mayhem is difficult to describe. The crowds – the double parked cabs and limos – the pedestrians ruling the roost, the horse and buggies, the bikes, the throngs – My GOD, what a sight!! (Photo below) I remained calm, and got out of there as quickly as I could. Back to the Lincoln Tunnel, and finally back home.

— I love my car.

— Awesome night.