Serendipity

Facebook Schmacebook. Who needs it when you can reconnect with a long lost friend at the gas station?

I’m on a serious mission to score as many Speedy Rewards points as I can and am trying to take advantage of every opportunity. Not only does their website tell me the monthly specials which can be utilized to score bonus points, but also where the lowest gas prices in the city can be had. The Lake Michigan Drive Speedway was a whole $0.10 per gallon cheaper than the station right around the corner from my house in Dutch country (go figure!). Since I had a ton of errands to run on that end of town, I’d detour there. But first I’d check in with the cashier. If I’m going to spend $50 on fuel, why not use a gift card to purchase gas and earn another 1,000 points? (Don’t you just love the way my scheming mind works?). So as I’m patiently standing in line awaiting my turn, I scan the crowd.

Denise?!?

Sure enough. It was a friend I used to hang out with nearly 30 years ago. (Wow … for some reason saying that just made me feel really old.) We exchanged the Cliff’s Notes version of what we’ve been up to all these years, as well as contact info with the promise to schedule time to catch up in depth. I was thrilled when she called a week later and suggested lunch. Since she mentioned she still keeps in touch with our friend Jean, she was joining us as well.

When I recently reconnected with Rob I marveled at how he was still the same person after all these years. Neither Denise nor Jean has changed either, and as soon as we saw each other we were instantaneously transported back to our running around days. The beach, the boys, the bars, the boys, the good ‘ole days. Did I happen to mention the boys? (Don't let those religious pictures in the photo fool you.)  Our gang back then consisted of me, Denise, Jean, Mary Ann and Marianne (no, sorry; no Ginger). Though the crazy things we used to do are still vividly recalled, ironically none of us can remember how we came to be friends. Denise and Jean had met at work long, long ago and have remained steadfast since, but trying to piece together the remaining timeline from three fading memories was a bit of a challenge. We finally surmised that the paths of Denise and I crossed in the very, very early days of CAC (the Catholic Alumni Club, fondly referred to back then as “Catch a Catholic”), but it would be several years before either of us got entrenched in that scene. We had places to go, things to do, people to meet.  The five of us spent a couple of years as partners in crime before we started getting married, relocating and going our separate ways.

Mary Ann, Marianne, Denise, Jean, Lynn

What a fun trip down memory lane today proved to be. We’ve vowed to keep in touch and try to do lunch every month or so. Though all of our lives have travelled down different roads, we still share the commonality of a thing called friendship. Other than the memories, I can’t think anything better to hang on to.