T Stands for Reunion

A few weeks ago, I mentioned I had reconnected with a high school friend through Facebook. We met for lunch at an Olive Garden that was located about half way from where we live. We had decided to meet for an early lunch and arrived at the same time. So fun to meet up with each other.

We started talking non-stop. After all, we had 45 years to catch up on. We started with drinks, an unsweetened ice tea for me and water for J. The poor waitress kept coming over to take our order, and we hadn't even looked at the menu.

We apologized to her and told her we were having an impromptu high school reunion before the official reunion in April. The waitress was cute told us she was having a high school reunion, too. I think she graduated last week. =^,.^=

We finally placed our order. We both had the eggplant Parmigiana which came with a side of spaghetti, a family style salad and breadsticks.

We ate and talked and talked. I first met J. in Girl Scouts in a Cadet troop, Grades 7-9. Then we went on to Senior Scouts, 10-12 grade. I think we rode the same bus to junior high school and ran into each other in high school though I don't remember J being in any of my classes.

We were fortunate to be in active scout troops. We went on trips to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. As Cadets on the Nantucket trip, we were working toward a challenge pin, the Challenge of Emergency Preparedness. Biking back from the beach, in the middle of the town square, the leaders decided we would do the challenge. Older scouts had been taken aside and told they would be victims in some sort of accident. We had to do first aid on the victims. I remember we used towels to tie some girl's leg to the handlebars of her bike as she had a "broken leg". She certainly would have had a broken leg after that maneuver. 😹

Most girls dropped out of scouting in junior high and very few kept up with it in high school so our Senior troop was very small. There were 7 of us in the troop. The leader had a huge Suburban station wagon so she would pile all of us plus our camping gear and off we would go. We spent a Winter camping trip at the leader's vacation home in Rindge, New Hampshire. I remember we went sledding I went down the mountain on a saucer. Everything was fine until I shifted my weight and the saucer spun around so I was going down the mountain backwards. All my friends were at the top waving and shouting so I waved and shouted back. Then the saucer turned again and I crashed into some evergreen trees. We also took a trip to Acadia National Park in Acadia, Maine. One evening as the sun was setting, we climbed down some rocks, watched the ocean and sang songs. Very magical.

I loved scouting. It was the only way I could get out of the house. I had a very old-world upbringing. So wasn't allowed to go out and do things unless it was with a well-chaperoned group. Ma would let me do anything with the Girl Scouts. I could have told her I needed a permission slip to go with the Girl Scouts to the Combat Zone (red light district) in Boston. She would not only have signed the permission slip, but would have given me some extra spending money. Hand to Gawd!

We were at the restaurant for 4 hours talking, eating, and having coffee for J. and tea for me. Yeah, four hours. J. can really talk. =^,.^= And because of all the reminiscing and talking, I forgot to take pictures of the menu, restaurant, and food. I did remember as we were packing up. So there's the remains of my lunch.

Meeting up with J brought back a lot of memories of good times and scouting, and songs sung around a campfire. Here's  a song to friendship.

Make new friends,
But keep the old.
One is silver,
And the other gold.

A circle is round,
And has no end.
That's how long
I want to be your friend.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.