Old Friends

Fountain at Lake Phalen . “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.”

I had a busy week this week doing a lot of socializing and catching up.  Once upon a time, a long time ago I was involved in High School theater.   We had a foreign exchange student from Amsterdam who joined us backstage.

The theater bunch in high school was pretty tight.  We all spent whatever spare time we had hiding out in the theater shop.  We were also, many of us, involved with band and/or choir – which meant pep rallies and marching band.  There were days when I would get to school before 6am and not leave again until after midnight.

some of us back in the day….

and now!

Many of us have stayed in the area and stayed in touch.  This week we had the honor of being visited by our dear Dutch friend!  The opportunity for a reunion was enough to get a few of our out of state friends to fly in as well.

I didn’t participate in all of the activities, but we did have a lovely get together and reminiscence on Monday evening.  Many of us also got dolled up to go swing dancing at the Wabasha Caves on Thursday.

Ready to go dancing!

In addition to all of the walking down memory lane I managed to acquire the grandpuppy for the weekend.  She needed some walking as well!

Today’s walk is brought to you by the neighbors dahlias.

Another friend (this one more recent) remembered she’d bought tickets to a water lantern festival.  She was going to be out of town and offered the tickets up.   Different group this time, but still connecting with friends and being out and about.

Making a lantern at Lake Phalen

I’m really grateful for the opportunities this week.  Besides the public transitions of John McCain and Neil Simon there are also several others happening both in my family circle and for other close friends and their families.  It’s nice to have a distraction, and to be able to share memories.

One of the hardest things with loss is that the person who dies takes your shared memories with them.  That’s true with divorce, with breaking up a friendship, and especially true when a good friend or close relative dies.  Getting together with my high school bunch helped me to remember, and also made me appreciate how we share those memories.

and sending them off under a beautiful moon

The water lantern festival (in it’s non-culturally appropriated form) is also an opportunity for remembrances.  Both of the friends I attended with took the opportunity to acknowledge the people they have lost on their lanterns.  I am grateful as well for the opportunity to make new memories and cultivate new friends.