This week I reconnected with some old friends by way of Facebook. We had a thirty minute "conversation" that took us right back to the late 70s and our teen years. I know I was laughing at my end and I think they were probably in the same shape. I wasn't picturing us as the fifty-plus year old women we had become. No we were three teenage girls with giant hair, short skirts and too much eye shadow, giggling over some silly thing.
I don't know when it happened that we lost touch. But it was obvious that we didn't lose the memories. And this week they've come flooding back to me. Here are some of my favorites that are as fresh now as they were back then...
Nancy had this car... I think it was a Dart. The horn made an "oooooga" sound. It was so cool. One of my favorite memories was sitting in her mom's kitchen watching The Sound of Music with her mom and grandma, both of whom I adored. Her dad tried to be this gruff guy but he was the sweetest man ever and I loved him too. One summer Nancy and I went to Girls Camp as counselors together. I'm not sure what the leaders of the camp were thinking. We were about 19 and they put us in charge of a group of 12 year olds. But we had a great time together. One of my favorite memories with Nancy was going with her and Georgia to see Barry Manilow at an outdoor concert in the pouring rain. We were in a little truck. We picked up a hitchhiker on our way home and made him ride in the back of the truck in that rainstorm. Then we were terrified the whole way that he might be an axe murderer! Nancy was my maid of honor when I got married. These days she's married to the love of her life and travels for her job.
My other old friend, Gayle, was my partner in crime. She was always such a free spirit and she would light up a room when she walked in. We walked home from school together and we would be cracking up the whole time. We had so many adventures. One day we decided to drive to a theme park about two hours away in my little Ford Falcon. We got so lost and literally were on some backroad I have never found on a map again. I think Gayle's boyfriend, who was along with us, wanted to kill us both because we were laughing the whole time. One of our favorite things was to go cruising on the "avenue" on Friday nights. We'd drive up and down the road with most of the other high school kids in town, wasting a tank of gas. Gayle lived with her mom and sister. Her mom was a hoot. She was the sweetest lady and even when we did something she wasn't too happy about, she could never get really mad. Later on Gayle and I were roommates. We always had an apartment full of people and you could always count on a bowl of cold spaghetti in the frig in the morning for breakfast. Gayle too is married to her soulmate.
I loved these girls then and I still do today. I am so glad that we have been able to reconnect before it got too late. I'm looking forward to the not too distant future of visiting them in person. I can't wait!
