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My old friends
Old friends are the best, aren’t they!? I am blessed with a few old friends. People I met when we first came to The County in the 70s I consider Old County Friends. But I have several friends I’ve know for sixty-five years and one I’ve know for over seventy years. Do any of us get together on a regular basis? Nope. Do we speak with each other on the phone? Nope. But, I don’t need to speak with those old, old friends very often to pickup where we left off. And that’s what I call friendship. The oldest of the oldest friends, a fella I’ve known for more than seventy years, he and I go way back. We met before kindergarten. His family lived a few blocks from our family. His Mom and my Mom were good friends. They helped each other on “big” laundry day. They were there for each other on those hot August days when pickles and jams needed to be canned and jarred. And they took care of each other whenever a new baby arrived or a childcare situation presented itself. They showed up when backyard weddings needed a bit of prepping. It was because of Mom’s friendship with Mrs. K, I met her son. We hit it off, I suppose, as little kids do. We both liked digging for treasure in the yard, usually on the septic tank. We loved riding trikes and bikes in the school yard – the only paved area. Building forts and playing “move ups” in the park made summer more fun. I’m not sure if we had much to say to each other, when we were young, but we did make each other laugh and younger brother was “okay” with him being around and that was important to me. My oldest friends is still around.
Now, I do have a newer oldest friend, Linda Arlene. Linda and I met when we were just about ten years old. Linda was just about the coolest kid I’d ever seen. When we met she was new to Strathburn/Humberlea. We liked the same kind of books. For years we really liked track and field more than we liked boys until we honed in on the same boy in grade six. Linda and I were great (the description we agreed upon) at baseball, hockey, speed skating, running and basketball. At the end of the school year she and I shared the honour of being the sportiest girl in our grade eight class. We were awesome then and, we agree on this, we’re still awesome now. These days we don’t play baseball nor has either one of us worn a pair of skates (ice or roller) in decades. It would be safe to say the only running we do might be that sprint from the car to the toilet after a long road trip and we both know basketball is a thing of the past for us. We attended each other’s weddings and made appearances at all of the bridal showers. And then children, husbands, jobs and relocations happened. Before the internet was a thing, we wrote to each other, mostly sending greeting cards with short notes or photographs of the kids. And then we stopped. It happens.
Technology brought us back together. Instead of flowery notes and cards we “pop up” on messenger almost every day with news about the kids, their kids and, of course, sending rude and silly short videos and memes. We reminisce about our school days. We laugh about the years I was commuting to Markham when my Markham flat was literally around the corner from her house and we never ran into each other. Linda was single by that time and we joked that as “gals living on their own” chances were our trips to the LCBO on Markham road may have been at the same time and we “just missed each other”. This morning is like any other. We chatted online about the kids and their kids and about the weather and our health. We yapped about gardening and of the books we’ve been reading – we aren’t surprised we still read the same kind of books and laugh at the same dumb stuff we found so amusing so long ago. About ten years ago, we found our “sixth grade boyfriend” online and now he’s part of a group conversation, once or twice a week. Linda and I joked about renting a red convertible and driving along Route 66 to his place in California to do some surfing, sunning and strolling along the beach. He’s all for it! Linda and I are sorta kinda digging the vibe but know it will never happen. It’s the close, funny, honest kind of friendship I love to have and here I am—I’ve got it all.
So, here’s to July and to the old, older and oldest of my old friends. The seventy year plus friendships and the sixty-five year friendships and all of the County friendships. Who could ask for more? Not me.
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