I first met my friend Eddie at the Harvard Secondary School Program in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He gallantly saved me from sitting next to a pushy boy named AJ on the Yale tour, let me edit his essay and ran into my roommates and me wildly spinning in circles in Harvard Yard at midnight. The first time we ever saw each other, however, was on the Brown campus. And over two years later, that's where we met up again.
Eddie and I didn't hang out much in Cambridge. I can count the number of times we saw each other on one hand, assuming that I count each joint of my finger, finger nail, freckle and skin cell individually. We did text and message on Facebook a lot while we were there, and after we went home we kind of just never stopped.
One of seven known photographs of Eddie and me together.
At some point it was decided that Eddie was my imaginary friend, an enigma that existed only in my imagination (and the internet.) He called Leavenworth TinyTowne and was constantly amazed at my stories of life in a small fake Bavarian tourist town. For example, "my science teacher just dropped off eggs from his chickens," "the mayor just rode by in a horse drawn carriage," and "I used to wear a dirndl and hand painted wooden clogs while playing the accordion."
Since I had to fly through Boston to get to Madrid, we decided to finally hang out in real life again! We had planned on a week full of trips to Cambridge, reminiscing and eating lots of SSP-esque foods like bubble tea and frozen yogurt.
My make-shift accommodations, complete with pillows made out of clothes.
Unfortunately for our week of catching up and doing exciting, active things, Eddie got mono. I showed up to find a house mostly empty of college students, a mattress and not much else. In his sickened stupor, Eddie had overlooked things like towels, sheets, blankets and pillows. They had all been packed away in preparation for moving back into the dorms this fall.
Sugar and bread... how can you go wrong? Answer: you can't.
We ended up watching a lot of Netflix, taking quick walks outside, getting food, and going back inside to watch more Netflix. When Eddie took long enough naps, I would head out into Providence to get some exploring done. The best discoveries- tea bars, macaroons and these delicious pastries from a local bakery just down the street.
It may have been an uneventful visit scattered with trips for thermometers, cough drops and visits to the doctor but I still managed to have a lot of fun!
Eddie is now at home in Indiana being sick. I'm just hoping he didn't lick my silverware when I wasn't looking so I don't end up with mono too!