Old friends are the best friends...

This Sunday I'm getting together with a handful of people who were very instrumental in shaping the person I am today. No, they are not teachers or older/wiser relatives. They're the people I was closest to when I was going to UW-Parkside. They were my dearest friends.

I recall being very scared and naive when I started college. I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. My mother hoped that I would be a teacher but, at that time, I really had no interest in that at all. All I knew that the best times I had in high school, and the times I felt like I learned the most, were those times when I was on stage. So, the first student orientation session I attended at Parkside, I went directly to the room marked "Theatre Arts". At the time, Parkside did not have a Theatre Arts major. I had to major in Communications and, actually, that has served me very well over the years. I was made to study a wide variety of subjects but the best time was the time on the Parkside stage. It was there that a rag tag group of fresh young faces, full of hopes and dreams and themselves, came together to exude creativity and perform. It was there I met my best friend and we're still best friends to this day. It was there I felt my first real crush on someone and also my first heart break. I'm so excited to see my friends this weekend. I know we'll laugh and remember all the great times and be just as grand and full of ourselves as we were back then. They taught me so much about myself by accepting me for who I am.

Rebecca - or Becky as we called her then. She came to school later than the rest of us. She was one of the "new kids" but it was clear she was talented and had a fresh wholesome appeal. She could also be incredibly silly and was always fun to be around. One day we discovered she could sing. No, not just sing...she had the most beautiful voice ever. So clear, so pure...like an angel. Becky fell in love easily and, being young, could always relate her matters of the heart to some film or play. She was dramatic but sweet and I love her. She lives on the east coast now and sings in a band.

Patty - I knew Patty from high school. We had done plays together there and a number of crazy variety shows. We also worked together for a summer or two at local parks as Park Playground Assistance. Patty is Italian and I remember going to her house at lunch time where her Nonna would be cooking. We'd always get fresh ravioli or spaghetti or, better yet, biscotti or cannoli! What a treat! Patty is a brilliant actress. She has a range of emotion that can just get me every time. She hasn't acted in a long time now but I'm sure if she had the chance that talent is still there. She's a great lady and great mom and I love her.

Andy - now called Drew. Andy came to school around the time Becky showed up. He was from Cudahy. He slouched when he walked like Groucho Marx but he had a full head of curly blond hair that swirled wildly. He was the most well read person I ever met. He knew plays inside and out and he could create characters at the drop of a hat. He is a brilliant actor and, consequently, the only one of us who's made the theatre his full time job. He now lives and works in Milwaukee but travels all over the country wherever a new job will take him. He's funny as hell too. We played opposite each other in The Matchmaker. I played Dolly Levi to his Horace Vandergelder. We spent long hours working together and getting to know one another. I love Andy. He will always be Andy to me.

Scott - I don't know exactly when I met Scott because it feels like I've always known Scott. He quickly became my best friend and, even though I don't see him or speak to him that often, I still feel like he's my best friend. He's one of those people who you can go a whole year with no contact and then when you do, it's like you never left off. We did everything together while we were in school. We were in all the same plays. We carpooled together. We went out on the weekends together. We shared all of our deepest secrets. My Mom always thought Scott was my boyfriend even when I told her he was gay! She said she was sure that was just a phase for him which meant she really liked Scott and hoped he was my boyfriend! After we graduated Scott and I moved to Chicago together and lived together for four years. It was only when I decided to move back to Wisconsin that we separated. But our bond is strong. He was there for me when my Dad died and I was there when his mother passed away. We have had knock down drag out fights but can never really be mad at one another. I love Scott and always will.

I can't wait to see this group again. Becky can't make it for Sunday but she might be in town next week so I hope I can see her then. I know that on Sunday we'll have no end to our conversation. We have never been accused of being quiet. These are some of the best people I know. Some of the best in the world I should say. And I am so lucky to have them in my life.

Wonder World WIde Web...

As some of you know, I am a Facebook addict. I got to that site 20 times per day to play games, see what my friends are up and whatnot. For better or worse, there it is. I can honestly say that there has been one HUGE "for better" that I much appreciate about Facebook. Because it is so popular, I have been able to reconnect with many people in my life that I had thought were left only in memory.

Last night was one of the best of those moments. Previously, I had reconnected with some of the girls I went to grade school with. Yes, grade school. And we've been chatting it up and making plans to meet up for lunch all this week. I can't wait for that! But last night, I was reconnected with one of my very best friends from back in the day. She was someone I had lost track of and thought of constantly throughout my life. My friend Nikki! My god..when I found her on Facebook the messages started and the texts and it was like we were both 13 again! We were a pair back then, Nikki and I. We were both WAY into music and liked almost the same artists. Bowie and Elton were the big two but for some reason she also had this penchant for Randy Newmann! I could never quite figure that out! Anyway, we used to write these ginormous notes to each other all the time. I mean, at night, at home, writing 15 page notes to give each other the next day in school. The notes were all about our fantasies about marrying rock stars and seeing the world! We had vivid imaginations!

We've been enjoying getting to know one another again. She reminded me of something very funny! She had a picture back then of her brother and some of his friends. There was one friend, John, who I thought was a hotty! She is now married to John but she reminded me of how I said "I want him!" when I saw the picture!! LOL I told her at least she ended up with the hot one!

Luckily, Niks lives in Wisconsin still and gets to Kenosha about once a month. So, we will see each other again. Oh yes we will. I had forgotten how important friends were back then. How much we got each other through at 13. There's a line in "Stand By Me" at the end of the movie that alludes to the serious bonding nature of the friendships of that age. Something like "Did we ever have friends like those we had when we were that age?" And the answer is really no, we don't have that same youthful imagination or careful tending of each other's easily broken hearts that we did back then. When' we're adults we are too filled with adult things and responsibilities to forge those kinds of friendships. Oh, we have good friendships....friends we'd do anything for...but when you think about it deeply, it's not the same.

Reuniting with Nikki brought all of that back to me. All of the teen age hopes and dreams and fears and wondering was plopped right back in my lap. And when we started writing each other again there was a feeling of instant acceptance. There's no ego attached with a friend who knows you inside and out. Nikki knows me. Always has. And I'm finding an enormous amount of comfort in that. I can't wait to see her.

Okay, you can just ignore that last post...

Sheesh. What a whiner I am. Honestly. I just read that last post of mine and whine, whine, whine. Yeah, like anyone I can be pretty hard on myself sometimes but that rant right down there below...well, that is just me WALLOWING IN SELF PITY!

I'm over it know. (You can all breathe easier, I'm sure.)

So I have one more day of work this week. Then I have a four day weekend. And smack dab in the middle of the weekend, I have a reunion with some people from my college days. I can't wait. Lemme tell ya about these folks.

Scott - Scott has been one of my best friends for a long time. In fact, we shared an apartment in Chicago when we first graduated. We were SO naive and on our own in Chicago. Our first apartment did not have heat. Oh, it had the capability to have heat but we were just completely unaware that the meter for the gas company had been stolen. We sat there, in our cold living room, covered in blankets and wondering why we didn't seem to have heat. We figured it out...eventually. Took about a week though.

Patty - Lordy, what can I say about Patty! We actually went to high school together and then ended up at university together. We have laughed harder than any two people have a right to in our lifetime. I have a really funny story involving me and Patty, some cheeseburgers at Finney's West eaten between the matinee and evening shows, flatulence and Scott entering the scene in the aftermath. I won't give any more detail than that. You figure it out!

Becky (now calling herslef Rebecca, la de dah!) - oh so many shows together! Becky was always the young ingenue to my curmudgeonly type characters. She had a light and air about her and a voice that was out of this world! She's flying all the way in from Connecticut for this shindig!

Andy (now known as Drew) - Andy is an actor's actor. Droll, funny, and often irreverant. He was one of my favorite people ever. I recall a party at his apartment. He says, "You don't have to bring anything. I made a ham!" This was an event. Andy never had any food at his parties. SO we get there...and he has a ham. Just a ham. Sitting in the middle of his table. With a knife in it. Needless to say, we ran out and got other stuff to eat and drink to go WITH the ham. What a doof!

Anyway, can't wait to see them on Sunday! I already know it's going to be a blast and my sides will hurt from laughing all day long.