HUGS, KISSES AND LAUGHTER

We have spent a weekend of pure nostalgia at a reunion of old friends, some we hadn’t met for 20 odd years. We had all lived nearby and, for various reasons, had moved to other areas.

I was very apprehensive. I thought “I probably wouldn’t recognise any of them if I walked by them in the street and I’m sure none of them would recognise this old biddy”. How wrong could I have been? Immediately we were together the years rolled away and we hugged, kissed, laughed and cried.

One friend had been in America for years and was now on the cusp of retirement. She had moved to the coast and was trying to persuade her 87-year-old mother to join her. Her mother would have none of it. She said: “no way could I move in with her. She has a lovely flat overlooking the sea, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, but I need my own pad”.

Another couple had, unbeknown to us, moved to our area several years ago, so we immediately exchanged ‘phone numbers and vowed to meet up somewhere locally.

Another exotic rabble rousing friend who had been in San Francisco during the flower power era, knew all the bands and pop stars of that time and some of this time, lived on three continents in mansions, semis, tepees and parks and was now contemplating the strange concept of retirement. How can an old hippy be expected to retire? What would she do with herself? Now that I understood!

Another had retired to Spain and was now involved in another business enterprise. The flesh was week but the spirit was willing and he couldn’t just lie around in the sun all day could he?
We reminisced on how life had been so great for all of us way back then and how we really hadn’t appreciated it until it was too late

But now we have email and things will be different. What a great thing this email is.