L-R HR Shaw, Linda Cloud, Barbara Elliott, me, Carolyn Dye
At my last high school reunion, several of us mentioned that we needed to start meeting more often than every 5 years. Many of us have now upgraded to Life 2.0 and you would think that without pesky day jobs, getting together would be a cinch. NOT!
We all have activities that make a day at work seem like a breeze but now our time is filled with grandkids, volunteer work, traveling and unfortunately, health issues. But get us together and we’re immediately transported back to the halls of Fulton High School and don’t think we’ve gotten a day older – just wiser!
Today five of us met at the Lake of the Ozarks for lunch and the conversation and fun never lagged. Barbara and Carolyn live in Columbia so Barbara began the chauffeur duties by picking up Carolyn and then swinging through Fulton to get HG and Linda. I drove from here and we all met at the Marshall’s Superstore because we can all use an excuse to shop! I actually won the shopping award because I bought 2 pair of Birki’s and a swimsuit but will return 2 pair of Birki’s in Springfield and the return is more than I spent today. Even Burl is convinced that I got paid for my efforts!
We timed our day for a late lunch so we were able to sit on the patio at Stockton’s and take our time eating and visiting without making other diners wait. Of course we were probably pretty obnoxious with our raucous laughter but I doubt any of us cared – we were together and that’s what mattered.
Carolyn, Barbara and I have known each other since pre-school so our history runs really deep – plus Barbara and I have such wonderful shared memories of all our years in Girl Scouts and especially the National Roundup in Button Bay, VT many moons ago.
Linda and I have fun remembering our senior year of high school when we regularly cut study hall which was bisected with our lunch time – most days we recruited another rebel, took off in Linda’s car and just “forgot” to return for the rest of study hall time. Until today I had no idea Linda was at risk of graduating for cutting so many classes! HG married Dale who was in our class (she was two years behind us) and we all mourned losing him to cancer earlier this year. Dale was always one our favorites in our class and even more so when he married HG. Burl and I will be forever indebted to them as they helped find our first GoldWing and we enjoyed lots of good riding with them.
As we left the restaurant – planning to part ways and head home – everyone wanted to see my new Birki’s and as a semi-professional shoe-aholic, I was happy to oblige. I opened the trunk of my car, showed off my finds, excited the others to make a return stop to Marshall’s and get their own sandals – and promptly closed the trunk lid WITH MY KEYS INSIDE! The minute the latch shut, I knew I was up a creek!
As dear friends, none of them would think of leaving me stranded. I called my insurance company to see if I had roadside assistance (nope, not on my car – don’t travel with it much) and then Barbara got a phone book from the restaurant and I called a locksmith to come rescue me. At this point, ever-the-Girl-Scout Barbara opened the back of the van and started handing out bottles of cold water and then brought out her basket of provisions and tried to feed us all!
Barbara demonstrates the Girl Scout motto - Be Prepared!
There wasn’t much more to do than hang around Barbara’s van and continue visiting which is what we were doing when the security officer came by. Our new best friend!
He couldn’t open the car for us but told us the Osage Beach Police Dept. will open them for free. That’s all I needed to hear! I cancelled the high-dollar guys and called Officer Friendly who was there in 5 minutes and soon had the car open for me.
While we were waiting, I had called Burl and he reminded me I could get to the trunk from the back seat. HELLO! If I could get to the back seat, I wouldn’t have been trying to get the car doors open. I’m thinking he was having more of a blonde moment than I was today!
With keys in hand, we got in another 5-minute round of hugs and goodbyes and I headed south thinking about our conversations and wishing we could have had several days to visit instead of a few hours.
Here’s to life-long friends and remarkable women – I was in their company today and I was blessed.
