Sunday, September 25, 2011

Renewing Old Ties Over Coffee


On Saturday morning, I was staring at faces I had not seen in 40 years. My friends from high school, Nancy and Donna met me for coffee. My goodness, are we that old?

Two and a half hours later, we vowed to meet every six to eight weeks and to invite others from our class to join us.

It was interesting to me that Nancy really had kept in touch with so many of our classmates. I knew no one. When I was a freshman and sophomore, I dated a guy who was three years older than I was. When I turned sixteen-years old, I wanted my life and my freedom back. I was growing up and he was resistant to that fact. So, I had no, zero, none interest in any of the boys in our class or at school. I really didn't know the name of most of them. Ignored them all together. What I didn't want was another relationship or boyfriend. Had enough of that.

Over our coffee, Donna and Nancy talked all about the boys they had crushes on or dated. I realized then why I didn't date any of the high school boys. Never really thought about it before.

Both the women never had children, Nancy was married twice and Donna was never married. Both live in their parent’s homes. Donna is the caretaker of her two disabled siblings and Nancy is the caretaker of her elderly mother.

I am so grateful that Michael and I met when we were just teenagers. I am so grateful that we worked hard and built our lives together without any help from anyone. I am deeply grateful that we were able to have, raise and enjoy our son.

It is so interesting to see how life has taken all three of us down very different paths.

No comments: