What a week this has been. My fellow management grunts and I have seriously considered a hit on a colleague who shall remain nameless. If something happens to him I had nothing to do with it, I take the well being of my karma seriously. On a much nicer note, having not spoken to any of my particular high school friends in something like twenty odd years I heard from two of them in the same day. It felt REALLY good. Neither live here anymore and were a little surprised to find out that I did. Okay I was the last person expected to stay here what can I say, times change. I came back and all that.
The last time I'd spoken to Shirley twenty years ago, she and hubby were getting ready to go off to the States. They now have three kids, two of whom have had near death experiences. Shirley was a sweet girl and she's grown up to be a lovely, strong woman. I'd stumbled across a contact for her on the Internet and we've been e-mailing since Wednesday. I was so happy she called today, it really took me back. And then this afternoon Mark called. I haven't spoken to him since 1984. No he was not a boy friend, he was one of the gang. Marks's stepmother used to breed Doberman Pinchers which contributed greatly to lifelong love affair with the breed. Oh yeah, now you know when I did O Levels. Well we certainly had some times then.....
Ah, it was the Big eighties, we all had big hair, oversized clothes - man we had no fashion sense at all! Madonna was going through her lace/net/rubber bracelet phase, ugh. I shudder when I see some of those pictures though I admit, I still get a kick out of my streaked hair. It was fun. Never mind the weed/coke pusher on the corner, the music was happening and we had some terribly good times in Dairy Queen and were thrown out of KFC on more than one occasion. In those days we could make a portion of fries and a large coke last a long time. And that was for four of us. We didn't have a lot of money but we sure as heck had a lot of style and we conquered our world best we could.
In the twenty some odd years since we've all gone our separate ways Shirley, Annie, Lisa and I -we've been married, divorced, had kids or not, had a lifetime of experiences that make us who we are. And yet, there is still something that makes me smile when I think of these girls who I spent so much time dressing up with, sharing my dreams, gabbing about boyfriends, breaking up with boyfriends, failing exams and moaning, passing exams and going to Dairy Queen. Let's not forget "breaking biche" to go the movies or hang out at various houses with parents at work. These girls and a few other people represented some of the best moments in my life and I'm thankful to them for putting up with me.
I have however, developed much better dress sense thankfully. I have also had some other very good friends who I've lost along the way, but that's okay, I had them. Best of all, though most days I wear the corporate suit and toned down hair and at a time when I'm questioning some of the crap in my current life,thanks to Shirley I am minded of that girl who's anthem was Matthew Wilder's "Break My Stride". I am reminded that in me there still beats the heart of a true bohemian, who in her dreams has cherry red hair to go with my bunch of dragon tattoos.
1 comment:
How nice for you, getting in touch with old friends from school.
Luckily for me, my schoolmates and I are always in touch. Many of them live abroad, many of them are married and have children, some are reamrried and have more children. The best part is that spouses beong to the group too. And whenever we get together, it's like all of us were 16 again.
They are the best friends a person can ever have.
Lovely!
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