Monday, October 17, 2011

BFFs forever!!

A few weeks ago (yeah, I know I'm behind), I spent the most wonderful weekend with 3 friends I had not seen in 43 years.  The key to a great friendship is being able to pick up right where we left off at graduation from Maine-Endwell Senior High School in Endwell, New York in June 1968.  And we certainly did!  Everything came together better than if we'd planned it.  Here's how it happened: Dr. Debra Dyer, henceforth known as Deb, a college professor in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, contacted me to say she would be accompanying her younger daughter to Fort Worth.  Her daughter was participating in a conference, and Deb has a cousin who lives in Fort Worth, so she decided to come along.  She asked if we might be able to get together.  We have some other high school classmates who live within a few hours of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, so I decided to email them in case they might be able to come for the weekend and get together with Deb.  On a whim, I also decided to include 2 other close friends who live far away, just to include them in the plans.  One friend, Bobbie Alburtus, lives in the Tulsa area and was more than thrilled to come down for the weekend.  None of the other friends who live in the general vicinity was able to come, so we assumed it would be just us 3.  Then one of the far-away friends, Terry Brearley, texted me that she was online with Expedia, reserving her ticket to fly down for the weekend.  From Burlington, Vermont!!  It was more than any of us ever expected, and we couldn't have been more excited!  Not only do we all love each other very much, but Terry--our class' Wittiest Girl (a.k.a., class clown)--is one of those folks who makes every event a party.  Just having her here was the icing on the cake of an already promising weekend.

Terry and Bobbie stayed with Tony and me, and because it was an abbreviated weekend we didn't have time to do any of the typical tourist-y things most first timers to Texas hope to do.  We did, however, spend some time with Jenni, Erika, and their kids.  My daughters wanted to meet my friends very badly, and everyone hit it off beautifully.  The little ones performed beyond anything we could have hoped for and loved Bobbie and Terry.

Saturday afternoon Bobbie, Terry, and I piled into my car and we drove to Fort Worth to meet Deb.  We did some shopping/browsing in the Stockyards area, then headed to Joe T. Garcia's for dinner and margaritas.  We had a great table outside in the garden, and our waitress was a sweet young thing who appreciated that we hadn't been together in 43 years and let us stay for hours.  It was a perfect evening. 

It was hard to say goodbye after such a wonderful reunion, but we have a 50th (!!!) class reunion in a few years, so even if we don't get together between now and then as we would like, we have a date to meet at the reunion in 2018.

Here are a few photos from the weekend:

Bobbie and Terry getting acquainted with Zoey and Ruby.
 Maggie absolutely fell in love with Terry right from the start!
 Bobbie and Terry visiting at Casa Wiese.
 Leo, oblivious to the ladies, spent his time wrestling with his dad.
 Etta showed off her new skill of pulling up and cruising. Not bad for 8 months.
That evening we enjoyed a little bit of true Texas!
We did not, however, partake of any Buffalo Butt Beer!!
 
 Left to right: me, Bobbie, Deb, Terry
Four friends enjoying a leisurely dinner in a lovely environment on a gorgeous night.  What could be more perfect?  Yep, BFFs forever!!

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