For Girlfriends

Especially those who've stuck with me for years and years and years (infinity). There is no better therapy than time spent with old friends. So much laughter, so many great memories. And though we all lead very different lives and have traveled separate paths from back then to now, it's no trouble at all to fall right back into that comfortable, familiar place of friendship. So today I give thanks for the women who make it easy to feel like little girls again. (Thanks, Susie, Maureen, and Debbie for such a fun lunch today.)

Tales From The Porch

It was a weekend of memories and making memories. Raucous laughter and earnest conversation. Sweet snacks, salty snacks, a thousand dips and two thousand dippables. Renewal and relaxation. For the second year in a row, friends who’d known each other since toddlerhood or since the first, fifth, or seventh grades gathered atop Lookout Mountain, Georgia, in affirmation that there is something special in maintaining childhood friendships.

Two Susans, a Susie, a Sharon, a Ginger, a Joy, a Debbi, a Margie, a Linda, a Maureen, a Janie, a Chris, and a Mary came bearing bags of fruits and veggies, special artichoke and spinach dips, cheese and cookies, water and yogurt and coffee to the lovely, hospitable Cottages in the Clouds for our Second Annual Barger Elementary/Brainerd Junior High School Girlfriends Weekend. We used Dogwood Cottage as home base for cooking, eating, socializing on the front porch, and as sleeping quarters for half of us and Chestnut Oak Cottage for bedding down the other half.

Most of us had attended last year's reunion (and Debbie and Rhonda were sorely missed this year). We welcomed three newbies - Janie, Chris, and Susan W. - who caught us up on what they'd been up to over the last *mumble-mumble* years.

Of course, I can't tell you everything we talked about (or I'd have to kill ya'), but my highlights include:

• Joy's artichoke dip and Maureen's cheesy beef dip. Excellent, women! You're signed up to bring those to the 2015 gathering. (Put it on your calendars.)
• A warm, sunny Friday afternoon, just the thing for sitting on the front porch, talking and snacking.
• Watching everyone greet each other. Usually involved hugs and laughter. 
• Relaxing, hard rains and rumbly thunderstorms that moved in early Saturday morning, God's way of saying "Y'all slow down, and enjoy this time together."
• Staying up till almost 1am with Debbi and Margie, talking family and faith and other big, big things. Yeah, out on that front porch. (Can you tell how much I love front porches?)
  
• The decibel level of four or five conversations going on simultaneously. Funny thing, we were all able to keep up with every one of those conversations. We've had years of practice. 
• Seeing Janie, Chris, and Susan W. for the first time in *mumble-mumble* years. Such fabulous lives we've all led!

We decided to gather on the mountain again in 2015, when there'll be more stories, more food, and guaranteed more laughter.  Here's hoping more of the Barger/BJHS girlfriends will join us on the porch. We're tired of making up stories about the ones who don't show up.

Till then, fall in line, Brainerd Bombers!

Six Decades of Adorable

Reporting back from a great week in Orlando with the girlfriends. It was hard to concentrate on just the five of us, what with Weiner-gate (really? Weiner-gate?) and wall-to-wall Casey Anthony coverage, but we did manage to talk about everyone we ever knew (yeah, we probably talked about you), run rampant through Universal/Orlando (and all the shops), imbibe in a suitable amount of adult beverages, and sun ourselves around the pool most of the day.

We staked out a prime pool spot - far enough away from frolicking children, but close enough to the pool for a quick dip - and circled the lounge chairs. Time goes quickly when you're catching up on families, trips, health issues, and remember-whens. Add time in the whirlpool, sauna, and steam room, and you've got yourself a winning vacation experience.

Believe it or not, we still have enough stamina to work our way through 9-10 hours' worth of Islands of Adventure and Universal theme parks. We can highly recommend the Harry Potter ride, the Monster Makeup Demo, and the Lucy (as in Lucille Ball) museum. Standing in long lines weren't a waste of time for us, because we just kept up our catching-up talk.

One night we hit the Sleuth Mystery Dinner Show and had a ball. The show was funny, our table-mates were fun, and the wine kept flowing. None of us got the solution right, but we laughed ourselves silly and enjoyed the meal and camaraderie.

It's a real luxury to have five full days to get all the news of each other's lives. We do fall into our old friendship rhythms, and for a brief time we are in our elementary or high school environment. Yeah, there are pros and cons to that, but mostly it's just natural.

We've all completed six decades, except for two who cross that line next month, and we loved celebrating that achievement together. Something tells me that we'll be celebrating eight and nine decades together, God willing.

And we'll still be adorable!

Girls of Gold

A couple of weeks ago, we had our annual Girlfriends Weekend. Last year's gathering was sort of a 6-day "weekend" in New York, so this year we headed for a more bucolic setting - Blue Ridge, Georgia. As always, it was time spent catching up, gossiping, wondering "where are they now?" - all enhanced with lots of munchies and adult beverages.

Blue Ridge offered lots of advantages (for example, a lovely big cabin with a spectacular view and a hot tub), not the least of which was that we were just up the hill from my brother's mountain home. Bro and Bill - yeah, the two Bills - greeted us with champagne and a cheese tray on Friday and treated us to a splendiferous dinner on Saturday night. As I said, Blue Ridge has it's advantages. And a good time was had by all.

The weekend coincided with my rediscovering of the TV show "The Golden Girls" of late. With the recent death of Bea Arthur, programmers have taken the opportunity to run GG marathons and add the show back to the play list, I suppose. I'd forgotten how laugh-out-loud funny the show is, by the way. Hilarious writing, plus each actress being true to her particular shtick, makes it timeless. Only the massive shoulder pad fashions nail it to the 80s-90s period.

I've been trying to match up my own Golden Girls with the TV counterparts, but I haven't been very successful. OK, let's face it, I'm definitely the Dorothy Zbornak type - bossy, sarcastic - though I wish I had a touch more Blanche Devereaux sexiness and Rose Nylund sweetness. But the Girls? Hmm. I'm not sure they fit exactly. I think each of them are a combination of sweetness, sexiness, and sarcastic. Wonder which GG character my friends identify with?

Maybe it's time for a few more "stereotypes" and another go at a Golden Girls-type program. That said, don't call it The Golden Girls. And it better have some damn funny writing.

I do know this. That I love my own Girls of Gold and treasure our time together. Next year, the beach?