Friends Visiting

In my mind, there are few things of greater pleasure than to have friends visiting from out of town. As wonderful as that is, there's a certain kind of stress associated with it, having nothing to do with the friends in question. It's a stress, I hasten to note, that one is glad to take on, wanting to ensure a smooth, enjoyable experience. The effect all that has is to create a very singular experience for visitor and host alike. I happen to have recently entertained just such a guest from out of town, and it was taxing, but as I alluded, in a very good way. As is so often the case, I decided to make use of the subject here.

The first thing that occurs to me, as it probably will to many readers, is that one really only experiences certain things as a consequence of entertaining guest from out of town. I found myself more than once observing that I had never been to a place I took my friend, or hadn't been in quite some time. Do LA locals do things like the Zoo, or anything in the area of Hollywood and Highland? I know that I tend not to. Even apart from things catering more towards tourists, I found that my natural inclination was to steer my friend towards things new to me as well, just because they're good for anyone and I hadn't done them. It also happened by chance that new things were embarked on. There was a little of doing things that I had done, but not much.

I noted the burden of being a host. To some extent, this applies to anyone, but maybe a bit more for me. Welcoming someone into the home is free of some anxiety when one is secure in their knowledge that the home is a good, clean and welcoming space- not always so in places I call home. Additionally, as I don't presently drive, it was incumbent on me to aid my visiting friend in using the Los Angeles public transportation system. This resulted in somewhat more of an onerous traveling experience for her, but I hope a positively unique one. The city is experienced in a different way from that vantage point, and anyway I thought it would be neat to have this system to compare with the one from back home. The comparison, I imagine, is a positive one in some respects, but in others a negative one. The walking probably was most unpleasant, given the unfortunately timed heat wave that coincided with her visit. Even in pleasant weather, to walk as much as we did is sometimes more than I can bear.

Lest it appear as if I in the least bit sour on the experience or the general incidence of visiting friends, let me allay such impressions. It's really a fantastic thing to see old friends, and especially so to see them in a setting that would once have been so impossible to predict. I relish the opportunity as well to see the city through fresh eyes, and to have such a good excuse to do things I either wouldn't choose to or would kind of feel "too cool for school" about doing now that I have become so much in my mind a local. Out-of-town visitors really are a great thing to experience in all respects.