Friends

We hosted a Get Together last weekend here, and invited all of the people that we've been trying to get together with over the last two years. It's very hard to fit dinner plans, or entertainment, into all of our everyday lives for some reason. Some of the folks invited were a couple of Grimjack's high school friends, our siblings and partners, kids, and the rest were friends from our last place of employment. Oh, and the Deathlok family was here as well. Deathlok is Little Grim's godfather, and Grimjack's cousin.

Grimjack will admit that he is not good at pinning someone down for plans, and if you have a few friends that are similar, forget it - you'll never see them.

We have only one couple that we see regularly, about every two months, for dinner. We see them because Bonnie and I will make the plans, and then tell our husbands when we are getting together. Pretty simple. Then we decide the week before dinner where we will go. We try to go to a different restaurant each time. I've known Bonnie for years, we worked together. Her and her family helped me a great deal during my divorce and the couple of years after. So we've been friends for a long time. They actually did not make it to the party due to other plans, but I know we'll see them soon, so no big deal.

Another couple that we had hoped we would see, did not show up. The Mister called Dave and left him a message to see if they were coming. No callback. So the Mister was a little bummed that we didn't hear from them. It turns out they never got the invitation. Another school friend happened to run into them the day before the party and said, 'See you tomorrow night', and Dave had no idea what they were talking about. So Dave didn't want to show up at the party, thinking they hadn't been invited, and we didn't know why they just didn't show up. They didn't get the voicemail until Monday. So now we know it was just a big misunderstanding, and it will probably take us two more years to see them.

It was great to see everyone and I think a good time was had by all, partly due to Deathlok's Mai Tai's. It's tough to have a good conversation with someone when you are in a large crowd, so we got to talk to everyone, but not as much as I would have liked. Kind of like our wedding.

Grimjack keeps in touch with a group of his high school friends, and we go out for 'Winter Dinner' each year. Someone organizes and coordinates the dinner, and whoever is available meets at a different restaurant each year.

I didn't keep in touch with the friends I had in high school. I don't really know why. I've never been to any of my high school reunions, so I didn't have that opportunity to reconnect. I don't know that I ever had a big desire to reconnect or I guess I would have made some effort to remain in touch. Ironically, Little Grim started her new preschool a few weeks ago, and I discovered at the Open House that her teacher was none other than one of my better friends from high school that I haven't seen probably since 1979. It was strange seeing her. I can't remember when we stopped hanging out together, or why. So now I see her two days a week. Now I wish I had stayed in touch with my best friend Ellen, so I could call her and say "You will never believe who Kara's new teacher is!".