Tuesday, December 19, 2017

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.

34 comments:

  1. How great to meet up with an old friend, I'm sure you both had lots to tell. Had to laugh about the girl scouts, my aunt always let me go to things like that, too! Your food looks great. Happy T day, hugs, Valerie

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    1. It's true. As long as it was an activity with the Girl Scouts, she always let me go.

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  2. This idea made me kind of reflect. I have pretty effectively severed ties with most everyone from my childhood whether by accident or design. Everyone else has remained very close with me. This made me really wonder what it would be like to reconnect with someone from so long ago.

    All the same, thank you so much for sharing.

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    1. I was worried after the initial greeting, we would have nothing to talk about. After all, we were strangers. Sure we knew each other as kids, but a lot of water has gone under a lot of bridges. So I was pleasantly surprised how much we still had in common beyond Girl Scouts.

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  3. what a wonderful post! So nice to meet up with an old friend and chat for hours and reminisce too. I was a Brownie, then a girl scout , only started as a cadet and then gave it up. My BFF and I- and her Mom was a leader:):) FUN times- and we sang that song often too. Good thing you had the girl scouts to get away. Thanks for sharing. Happy T day and a Merry Christmas too!

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    1. We had a wonderful afternoon. Good thing the restaurant didn't throw us out!

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  4. We arent strangers anymore! I had wonderful time catching up. GS rule!

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    1. No, we aren't strangers anymore. We need to do lunch again soon!

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  5. So nice to reconnect with an old friend! :D

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  6. i really enjoyed your post-so wonderful you were able to hook up with a good friend. I was brought up in blue birds I think it was called and then on to camp fire girls-I really enjoyed that so your post brought back good memories for me
    Merry Christmas and Happy T Day-your lunch sounded really delicious too-

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    1. Yup, I've heard for Camp Fire Girls. A woman I worked with had brought in a beaded Native American outfit she had worked on as a Camp Fire badge project.

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  7. That's been a wonderful benefit of FB for me, reconnecting with friends I'd lost touch with. I like eggplant parmigiana but don't think I've ever seen it on a menu. I was in scouts and enjoyed it but was unable to connect with a cadet troop. I did lead my daughter's daisy and brownie troops and had a blast :) Happy T Tuesday

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    1. I love FB for that reason. What a good mom you were for leading the Daisy and Brownie troops. I didn't have the patience.

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  8. How absolutely PERFECT to meet up and be able to talk for hours on end. I've done that before, too. I remember when Sally came home from three weeks in the northwest, we went to lunch and talked and talked. The poor waitress had to come back three times before we finally settled down long enough to look at the menu. Even after that, we hardly stopped talking even after the last bite had been eaten. I understand how fun it can be to catch up and enjoy the time you spent with your former GS friend. GSs are the best (and I have badges to prove it, too). I was also in 4-H because it's big in the midwest.

    Thanks for sharing your day with your friend, your meal, and your drinks with us for T this Tuesday. And Merry Christmas, too, even though I'm sure I'll "see" more of you this week.

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    1. We were stunned to find out we had been at the restaurant for 4 hours. We arrived with the early lunch crowd and left just as the early dinner crowd was coming in! :-D

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  9. A wonderful post to read, it sounds like it was a very special day for you both.
    I think your girl scouts are like our Girl Guides, I loved those times as well, so thank you for making me think back to those days.
    Happy T day and Holiday wishes.
    Yvonne xx

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    1. Yes, Girl Scouts are just like Girl Guides. Truth be told, I always liked the name Girls Guides better.

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  10. I so enjoyed reading your post today! How lovely to meet up with your friend after 45 years and it was amazing to read about your friendship and happy memories 😁. Wishing you a Happy T Day and Holidays!

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    1. It's amazing to know friendships can endure after decades of being apart.

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  11. Your post gave me warm fuzzies. So glad you got to hook up with your bud.

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  12. Wow CJ that song at the end of your post brought back memories.. I wasn't much into scouting growing up... a little Brownies i think but my daughter was for several years.. and i remember that song and many others.. She went to Horse Camp and loved it... And now she is pregnant with her own ... Maybe she'll raise a girl or boy scout too.. So nice you could meet up with your friend . Have a Merry Christmas CJ and a Happy T day.. I apologize for the lateness of my visit.. crazy day... enough said.. Hugs! deb

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    1. Congrats to you and your family on the little bundle on the way. And never apologize for being late, it's just prolonging the celebration :-D Merry Christmas to you!

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  13. Another delightful post, CJ. I also have fond memories of Girl Scouts and remember the friendship song. How funny to think of splinting a broken leg with the bike handlebars. I think the silliest thing I did in Scouts was to eat chicken cooked over an open fire by our leader. It was still pink and bloody. I went home and told my mother how wonderful the chicken tasted and she should start cooking it that way!

    Happy T-day and merry Christmas! Hugs, Eileen

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    1. I remember cooking chicken over an open fire. We each got a chicken leg and thigh, some cut up potatoes and carrot chunks, all wrapped in foil and tossed on the fire to cook for an hour. I don't remember it pink and bloody, but it was really good.

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  14. Wow. Your girl scouting experience sounds wonderful. I remember going during jr. high for a year or 2. We went camping but never all those other trips. But then I think the whole program fizzled. It might been that I went to one of those big regional high schools then so it really spread out everyone from my little town. And it's great to hear about your reunion too. I would love to reconnect with a couple of my good high school friends. Hope you both get together again since it sounds like you had plenty to share. Happy belated T day. My head cold has exploded into a disaster so I'm a little late for T. Hugs-Erika

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    1. I'm sure we'll be getting together again. I'm so sorry to hear your feeling so under the weather. Hopefully, you'll be better by Christmas.

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  15. What a fabulous post! Reunions are great aren't they! It sounds as though you used to have a great time together! Have a wonderful Christmas! Belated Happy T day! Chrisx

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    1. Everyone in the troop got along well so made for happy, fun times.

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  16. What a great time you had, catching up with your friend! I love the memories! I hope you didn't get hurt too bad, crashing into the evergreens! LOL! The food looked so delicious!
    (I thought that was special, when you said you had a similar baby Jesus!)

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