Having dinner with the Desmonds two nights ago has gotten me thinking all sorts of things.
Jeri, who is our daughter's godmother, and I have been friends for 60 years. We met at the Newman Center at UC Berkeley. She is 3 months older than I am and between us we had a temporary driver's license that someone gave us, and we took turns using it to show we were 21 so we could get drinks. We didn't both go out for drinks at the same time, obviously.
Along with three other couples, we dated, married (were in each other's weddings, were godparents for each other's kids -- 22 in all, of the 5 couples) and for several years, lived near each other so that our kids went to school together and were kind of like siblings. We added another couple when the kids were in nursery school, so it's 6 families all together. Liam, Jeri's son, was with her at dinner the other night. He and Ned act like brothers...and really, they pretty much are.
We have called our group the Pinata group because we had parties every New Year's Day (didn't do New Year's Eve because we wanted the kids to be a part of it) and starting very early--Jeri was still a baby then--we had a pinata at every gathering. The kids lined up youngest to oldest and we kept doing the pinata as they all got older...now we've even had pinatas a funerals (we have lost 5 adults and 3 kids)...and the kids still line up youngest to oldest.
Char and I plan to write a story of the Pinata group because it's so unique and while the 1st generation and 2nd generation know about it, the 3rd generation doesn't. I don't know if we will make it a story or a book, but that's the plan to get written this year.
When I looked at Jeri and I the other night, each of us hobbling around on our walkers, having our sons help us get up and down steps, I realized how we have changed from climbing mountains in Yosemite to needing a walker to go from one room to the other in the house. We started out having to use a borrowed license to drink alcohol and now we are walking with walkers.
Sixty years later and the Pinata group still has some of my best friends.
__________________________ __________________________________________________
PHOTO OF THE DAY
No comments:
Post a Comment