Everything moves as fast as the hail that surprises you in the middle of a sudden thunder/rainstorm – dashing then full out galloping across block after block, meeting the beginning of a rainstorm as you hear it approach, dogs in tow becoming greyhounds sensing the urgency to miss the onslaught of a storm that is a regularity; up the stairs, into the dry safe place, back out, lurching to the left out the door grabbing the umbrella, closing the hatch to the roof on the way out or in was it, that is how fast these moments have been moving.

Back down three blocks, to catch the opening art gala promised at 6:00 – without dogs – watching a cascade of water fall behind the entrance that verifies I have been admitted to the opening – art – art everywhere in the form of hummingbirds – porcelain, shells made into lamps, graceful collections of fabric that frame a bedroom, treasures from room to room in this outdoors yet indoors gala – surrounded by friends just in from Indonesia – friends, promised, commitments blend together on the downpours all around us –

Where to? You to Polanco by 7:30 – we head to a Bodega, or to a warm, cozy retreat from the Mexican monsoon around us – hail welcomes our feet as we find ourselves at Belmonda, choosing a temporary hideaway from the violence of the natural world outside.

Talks of what was in Mexico, what IS in Indonesia, random pieces of conversation such as, “You still see that woman that you fell in love with that cuts your hair?” – relishing the fact that we see open heartedness and open mindedness where we once say one single narrow outlook on others and what we thought was the world around us – friendships, reminiscent of smiles, causal trips on a lazy Saturday and Sunday in bazaars in between streets, on the tip of our tongues as out eyelids begin to dance shut, that we are the lucky ones to have seen and experienced a true example of the world around us – and are living it.

Life is made up of these busy and hurried moments and yet the friendships that are squeezed in between from far away lands, that hold the memories in lock and key until they can be opened back up again with just the right combination, in this case, the connection of friends together again to reopen the moments that they remember and treasure the most; these moments define them as people no matter where they go.

Quite satisfying glimpses for a rainy Thursday evening, being tucked away again as another example of the beauty one finds in the middle of Mexico City.