The weekend before my birthday, I headed to Boston to have a quiet pre-celebration with Kira, as much to re-connect with a dear friend for my special day as to commemorate our last meeting in summer. It’s been a good summer for Kira and I, perhaps culminating with her visit here last month. Back in Boston, we had planned on getting all dolled up for a dinner at Red 8 at the new Encore Boston Harbor, and try our hand at some slot machines. (Neither of us have any idea how to gamble, but we were game to give it our best shot – or pull? – and we’ll get into that in a bit.) For this entry post, I’d just arrived in the city, and Kira had just gotten off work, and we wasted no time in settling into happy habits and hitting the town.
With her new work hours, we had some daylight left, and we passed the gardens of the Southwest Corridor Park as the sun slanted down, still hot and humid with the fine summer we’ve been fortunate to have.
We stopped in a few places on Newbury, then picked up some meat and cheese at Eataly for a light dinner, after which we headed back out once the sun was done. Because the night time is the right time, here’s a bluesy B.B. King song performed by Otis Rush to kick off this gambling odyssey, and a Friday night when the weekend was full and ready to unfurl in whatever majesty it decided.
Boston on a summer night is a magical place. Even the most common tourist stops carry a different sort of mystery then, shadows lending enchantment, while a Friday night features its own sort of frisson.
Kira was trying to break in a new pair of shoes – never a practical or sane decision, as I’d warned countless times – but no one listens to me so we pushed ahead until she couldn’t take it any more and had to slip on a pair of flats she’d brought in a bag. I warned her not to pull the same nonsense for our trip to the Encore – stay tuned to see how well anyone heard me. Spoiler alert: not even a little.
We walked back to the condo in the August night, Boston quietly alive even after all this, all these years of a pandemic, all these years of so much strife, and we walked in unspoken gratitude. It was good to be back in the city, to close out this banner summer when things felt just the slightest bit hopeful. As we settled in for the night, we got to talking about manicures and how I’d never had one, so Kira said we should get one the next day, and after looking online, I found a nearby place that had an opening, and my very first manicure was booked. Kira would have pretty nails for our gambling excursion, and so would I…
