Friends...

I remember when I was in my 20’s, people who were in their 40’s seemed so old. Hmm, even when you are in your 30’s, 40 seems old.
I love being in my late 40’s. The career is solid and secure, my home life is happy. My only complaint is seeing my parents, and friend’s parents, age.
And losing some people-and some before their time.
The only way I would want to be young again would be the old saying,”If I knew then what I know now.”
My favorite part is ALL those people from my past life who have re-entered my present life, mostly with the help of the Internet and Facebook.
Last year, one of my college Sorority sisters, Deb M, emailed me after 23 years of no contact. She married a man from our college-RIT, they had a son and he was going to our Alma Mater. Because of this, we planned a reunion and over 60 of us trekked back to Rochester, many for the first time since graduating, and got re-acquainted, after 23 plus years of no contact. Because of this, we are back in each other’s lives, sometimes daily via email, Facebook, and Skype. Sometimes when we are young, we don’t know-or understand, the true meaning of Sisterhood…and FRIENDSHIP. I know I never did but I see it now-I see how we are all there for one another. We will fly across the country-and even over oceans, to be together.
Other college friends that were long out of my daily life for the past 23 plus years, but who had a big place in my heart in college are back, and it is so wonderful and rewarding. Donna M, Dara, Shari, Diane,Robin, Faith, Joan, Ann, Kevin, Becky, Mike. The one constant friend since college, Barb, is really an inspiration. When I went back to Rochester this past October, we went by her mother’s. Her mother Eleanor, was a second mother to me when I was in college. One of my best memories includes her parents. I stayed in Rochester during the summers, and lived in the Sorority. At the end of the summer, we needed to vacate the house for 2 weeks. I had a job I loved and wanted to stay in Rochester, so Barb’s parent’s invited me to stay at their house in one of the nearby suburbs. Barb was away with her then boyfriend (and soon to be husband Jim) but was due back shortly. So, I went off to Fairport to live with Eleanor and Bill and their cats. I stayed for 2 months-I didn’t want to leave and neither did they. I only left because the Rochester winter was approaching and it was going to make it hard to travel back and forth.
My 30th high school reunion is in a few years and one of my high school classmates, Donna M, has started the planning. Domenic D, whom I went to kindergarten with, has been instrumental in getting people connected. Domenic, like many, would probably consider himself an outcast in high school but seeing him now-what a transformation. He lived around the corner from me and I was able to see his house from my front year, but we were never really friends. We started a page on Facebook for our graduating class and have managed to track down so many people.
Reminiscing about our Domestic Exchange trips to Ohio and Texas with Nicole, Steven and Barry has been hysterical.
Seeing Drew after all these years! I met Drew when I was the photographer for the March of the Living, an educational Holocaust trip for teenagers around the world to Poland and Israel when he was 16 years old. He is now married.
Life moves by so fast. Too fast.
I have to remember to slow down and smell the roses more.