Old Friends and Open Doors
Today I am grateful for safe travels for my friends and I to and from our girls' weekend in Madison, WI. I am also grateful that Sam and I could join Emily at her wrestling banquet last night.
As my friend Lori dubbed it, this weekend was "March Madison" for us while some of you were gearing up for that other "March Madness." Several of us attended our friend Sheila's brother's funeral back in early January and the idea for a weekend getaway was discussed. We were shocked and saddened by Chris' sudden death, and with three of us already having had cancer, I think we were feeling our mortality and that lost sense of security that starts to come with age. (Though a different type of security does come with age-self-security. There was much evidence of that this weekend.)
It came together pretty quickly and seven of us spent two nights together in Madison. The picture below was taken at the Fireside Dinner Theater before we saw a great production of "Footloose." Melissa and Tracy are in front, with me, Faith, Rita, Beth, and Lori in the back. An 8th friend, Linda, was able to join us for a few hours on Saturday and it was great to see her. Some others couldn't make it, including Sheila, but we took turns talking to her on the phone on Saturday evening.
We laughed A LOT! On Saturday night one line heard was "I have been laughing so damn hard I got a headache." A good problem to have I guess. We had adjoining rooms at our hotel and opened the door between the rooms when we arrived and that door pretty much stayed open all weekend. That is symbolic of our friendships. The door has stayed open. I haven't kept in close touch with some of these friends, but we have remained connected. Some of us shared 12 years of school together, some of us just 4 years, but we made lasting memories and long-standing friendships. Thirty years later, this was our first girls' weekend, but we hope to make it an annual event.
We are mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, career women. We are around the age some of our parents were when we were raising some hell in high school. Now that alone brings some solid perspective.
We marveled at how we hadn't really changed all that much, but yet we have changed. Our life experiences and our vocabulary have grown over the years. We are indeed wiser for it all.
Some of our discussions fall under "what was said in Madison stays in Madison." but tomorrow I will share some of what had us chuckling and chortling.
For now, an inside joke for those in attendance: "Was that a j or a g?"
Thank you to my friends for a fun time and for connecting me to the stream of life that continues to take us all to amazing, scary, exhilirating places.
As my friend Lori dubbed it, this weekend was "March Madison" for us while some of you were gearing up for that other "March Madness." Several of us attended our friend Sheila's brother's funeral back in early January and the idea for a weekend getaway was discussed. We were shocked and saddened by Chris' sudden death, and with three of us already having had cancer, I think we were feeling our mortality and that lost sense of security that starts to come with age. (Though a different type of security does come with age-self-security. There was much evidence of that this weekend.)
It came together pretty quickly and seven of us spent two nights together in Madison. The picture below was taken at the Fireside Dinner Theater before we saw a great production of "Footloose." Melissa and Tracy are in front, with me, Faith, Rita, Beth, and Lori in the back. An 8th friend, Linda, was able to join us for a few hours on Saturday and it was great to see her. Some others couldn't make it, including Sheila, but we took turns talking to her on the phone on Saturday evening.
We laughed A LOT! On Saturday night one line heard was "I have been laughing so damn hard I got a headache." A good problem to have I guess. We had adjoining rooms at our hotel and opened the door between the rooms when we arrived and that door pretty much stayed open all weekend. That is symbolic of our friendships. The door has stayed open. I haven't kept in close touch with some of these friends, but we have remained connected. Some of us shared 12 years of school together, some of us just 4 years, but we made lasting memories and long-standing friendships. Thirty years later, this was our first girls' weekend, but we hope to make it an annual event.
We are mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, career women. We are around the age some of our parents were when we were raising some hell in high school. Now that alone brings some solid perspective.
We marveled at how we hadn't really changed all that much, but yet we have changed. Our life experiences and our vocabulary have grown over the years. We are indeed wiser for it all.
Some of our discussions fall under "what was said in Madison stays in Madison." but tomorrow I will share some of what had us chuckling and chortling.
For now, an inside joke for those in attendance: "Was that a j or a g?"
Thank you to my friends for a fun time and for connecting me to the stream of life that continues to take us all to amazing, scary, exhilirating places.
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