Last night I joined 5 girlfriends from my graduating class of 1969. We weren’t all “best friends” in high school (though some were), but that didn’t seem to matter in the least as we gathered together to celebrate one of us turning 60. (Actually, we all will be turning (or have already turned) 60 this year, so for me it was an excuse to celebrate ALL of our milestone birthdays!) I can’t speak for all of the girls, but I know (with the possible exception of a 10 year reunion) I haven’t seen any of them since that day in June, 42 years ago.
So where are we today? Well…….
We’re married and widowed and divorced. We’re moms and grandmoms and career women. One of us is sacrificially, but joyously, raising her grandson. Several are lovingly caring for their aging parents, knowing that hard days may be ahead. We’ve fought our own personal demons and won many battles. Some we’re still fighting. We’ve made some good choices, and we’ve made some bad choices. We’ve grieved over love lost, and we’ve rejoiced over love found. We’ve worked hard, and played hard and loved well. And we’ve made our share of mistakes. We’ve lived all across this country (and some foreign ones as well) and are delighted to have found each other living close enough after all these years to gather together for times of celebration and to support each other through whatever the future will bring.
I was blessed to be part of the celebration! As one of us said – “the years just melted away”.
Now if we could just do something about those wrinkles! 🙂
Thank you, Gail, for getting the ball rolling. And thank you, dear newly-connected friends, for including this traveler as an honorary Floridian. Facebook might have been the vehicle used to start the connections, but it takes real live sweethearts like you all are to get it off the Internet and into our hearts. God Bless you all!
