| As my mother-in-law always said...'You'll find it when | | | | ago. I am excited at the prospect of sharing a |
| you clean.' Sage words indeed. Over the years her | | | | Christmas again with these old and treasured friends, |
| words have resonated with me and have indeed | | | | so much so that I have decided to set aside my fear |
| proven to be true. So many items long forgotten or | | | | of flying and join them for this 35th gathering. |
| treasures that I'd given up on ever finding again, | | | | It will be my Christmas present to them and in turn |
| magically appear once I throw myself into the task of | | | | they will bless me with their presence and |
| decluttering and sorting. | | | | remembrances of years and times past, shared |
| It sounds so simple on the face of it. Just spend some | | | | warmly around the glow of the fireplace in Maureen's |
| time and throw out what you don't want. Ha! I want | | | | 18th century farmhouse. We'll all spend the night at her |
| everything otherwise I wouldn't still be holding on to it. | | | | seven acre mini-farm and laugh and giggle and talk |
| The hard part of this type of cleaning though is finding | | | | about old boyfriends with names like Fuzzy, Gator, |
| letters and cards from loved ones. Particularly hard is | | | | Izzy, Lefty, and T Hook, in addition to others with |
| discovering little treasures that you've saved from | | | | regular names. |
| loved ones who are no longer with you. | | | | We'll talk about how our lives have been touched and |
| These are not so easily discarded, especially since | | | | changed by fate. Most good, some very sad. Not all of |
| you've just spent a good part of the day reading and | | | | our parents are alive to take care of us today, and as |
| re-reading someone's loving words to you, or | | | | life's river constantly changes course, some of us now |
| reminiscing over a thoughtful little gift that someone | | | | find ourselves standing on the other side of the bank in |
| sent you for no particular reason other than they knew | | | | the position of caretaker. |
| you would appreciate it. | | | | We have families of our own and also parents who |
| I'm not a true packrat. Packrats take things but they | | | | are getting older and some who are very ill. We are |
| allegedly also leave things in their stead. Thank | | | | the ones who must take care of our loved ones, and |
| goodness I don't do that or there wouldn't be any room | | | | we do it lovingly because we were lucky enough to |
| in the house, save for a narrow path to navigate from | | | | be brought up in homes surrounded with love. We |
| the bedroom to the bathroom to the kitchen and to the | | | | freely return the love. |
| door to escape the clutter! | | | | We were taught well, but it's not how we expected it |
| I used to collect menus from various restaurants that | | | | would be 35 years ago. We thought the carefree |
| I'd visited around the world (all taken with permission of | | | | insouciance of our youth would go on forever. But it |
| the restaurant owner, of course) but during my frantic | | | | doesn't, and I will be musing to myself as I sip my |
| race to rid the house of unnecessary items, I decided | | | | champagne surrounded by the warmth of the fire and |
| that things like menus and the like have no real value | | | | my good friends, about how fortunate I have been |
| to me. Sure, they're nice and they recall some fun | | | | these past 35 years. |
| times but they aren't truly personal. Words from loved | | | | We will look at each other with a critical eye for the |
| ones are personal and worth keeping and so, I've | | | | first five minutes, looking for wrinkles, gauging how |
| discovered, are words that I've written myself, journals | | | | many extra pounds have been added to the once slim |
| of various times in my life, documentation of important | | | | frames, and realize that we are searching our friends' |
| events in my life and so on. | | | | faces for signs of our own mortality. But this will soon |
| So it was with great happiness and a hefty dose of | | | | pass, and before we know it we will all be 14 and |
| nostalgia that I discovered an article I'd written for our | | | | 15-year-old girls again, and for a brief time, nothing will |
| local newspaper back in 1993. It was about a | | | | have changed. |
| Christmas reunion with old girlfriends; our 35th annual | | | | We will have only ourselves to worry about for that |
| Christmas reunion in fact. Recently I wrote an article | | | | night and that will be the greatest gift we can give |
| detailing our 50th such reunion so the following account | | | | each other; a past shared and a future to look |
| of our 35th would be a prequel I suppose. | | | | forward to, knowing that we will be there to comfort |
| I wrote: "I'm going home to New Jersey for a reunion | | | | and enjoy each other in the years to come. |
| this Christmas. No, it isn't a high school or college | | | | Because old friends are the best friends after all." |
| reunion or even a family reunion, although it might be | | | | Well it's been 16 years since first I wrote that article |
| argued that the people I'm going home to see are | | | | and of course our lives have changed. More parents |
| indeed very much a family to me. | | | | have died, more tragedies have befallen us yet we |
| They're my girlfriends who have been getting together | | | | are troupers and we carry on with the knowledge that |
| every year at Christmas for the past 35 years. | | | | life is short, that this is not a dress rehearsal. Carpe |
| A lot has happened to all of us since that first | | | | diem and carpe nacht! |
| impromptu Christmas get-together when we were | | | | In this uncertain world, there is one thing though of |
| young girls of 14 and 15. How wonderful the celebration | | | | which I am certain...that my friends will still be here for |
| was that first year and in the years to follow. How | | | | me as long as I, and they, are alive. We have reached |
| innocent and oblivious we were to worldly problems | | | | the age where we start to worry now which one of |
| and the circumstances of those less fortunate. | | | | us will be the first to go. We're realizing our mortality |
| We had it all. Our parents were alive and taking care | | | | and know that none of us is invincible. What we do |
| of us and providing us with love and, of course, nice | | | | know is that we love each other and are incredibly |
| Christmas presents. | | | | thankful and grateful for such a good run. May it last |
| I haven't been to all of the Christmas gatherings with | | | | for many more years to come, but if fate chooses me |
| my friends for I, like so many people in our mobile | | | | to be the first to go, let me now say I love you all and |
| society today, have moved far away from family and | | | | Thanks for the Memories! |
| friends. The last time I was home was 3 1/2 years | | | | |