Revisiting The Golden Girls

My mother has always had a wide circle of friends, whether it was within her long career as a public school teacher,  as a neighbor  or  a volunteer (Snug Harbor, Staten Island, Democratic Town Committee, to name just a few). Unlike so many friendships of my generation, they  have remained close despite moves, retirements,  etc .  These four in particular are what I’ve always referred to as The Golden Girls.  They  have a  comfortable friendship that spans decades, still going strong.  They’ve each known personal trials,  moves to different cities, illnesses,  and in one case the worst form of grief.  None of these things has frayed the ties that bind these women, and I’m grateful to bare witness to it all.   Below is a piece my mother wrote this fall after one of their trips together.

** Mom’s version is spaced properly. For whatever the reason, my tech incompetence, perhaps? I haven’t been able to fix the spacing.. my apologies. 

 

✨ Autumn’s Golden Girls✨

   I am picked up at Metro Park by my friend with a sandwich in her hand

for the drive to Cape May

Never at a loss for words the chatter begins there and continues in Dawn’s driveway

Hugs all round and cookies from Staten Island’s Cookie Jar

Soup, talk, and cookies from the Cookie Jar

Gracious Thomas grinds coffee beans for tomorrow’s breakfast

Chattered out, sleep beckons

Plans for the next day revolve around cloudy skies and the threat of rain

A visit to Stone Harbor with the movie “Downton Abbey” in mind

And shopping, of course, clothes today

Autumn colored blouse for Roseann and tailored coat for Dawn

Necklace thrown in there somewhere

Diane and I literally sit this one out in the store’s comfortable sitting area

(Probably meant for bored husbands)

Walk through the boutique hotel The Reeds at Shelter Haven

Menu there for Thanksgiving Dinner

Not bad price, Dawn

Movie theater for snacks—nice set up

And then a reunion with Lord Grantham and other old friends

Whether upstairs or down, Mr. Carson greets us still as Violet raises her brow at the intrusion of the hoi polloi

Dining out at Ebbitts after drinks by their fire

Good food, good drinks, more good chatter

And home to those wonderful cookies

Ball game on, Tommy keeps us posted as we catch up on pretty much everything

families, the state of the younger generations,

old friends, new homes and a LAP POOL , trips enjoyed and those planned

It’s pretty much all good

And now everyone of us is in our seventies (at least until next May)

Where did all the decades go?

The lesson there: Seize the day, every damn day!

So we seize a  shopping day, you knew that was coming

For the first time I spend the most, in a Christmas shop no less!

 Even need to mail stuff home.

It is the proximity of Rosie egging me on I think.

So yeah, Rosie’s fault.

Lunch at Congress Hall

and more shopping

How do you spend $37 on Birthday cards in five minutes?

Easy at the Whale’s Tale

Diane and Dawn are the most restrained shoppers this go round

 Dinner of sandwiches and left overs and cookies

Earlier to bed for tomorrow’s trip home

Breakfast and chatter

Pack up and head out

Train is not missed, Diane is home before it leaves station

Another visit of friends, a little creakier and grayer

But just as happy to share time together, a glass of wine together,

A walk through an iconic town center together

The Cape May of a golden October afternoon

A few thoughts found  and cherished about friends and friendships

“Life is partly what we make it,

and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.”

      Tennessee Williams

“Friendships multiply joys and divide griefs”

“Friendship can’t be a big thing. It’s a million little things.”

Til next time, my friends. While we get grayer the friendships remain golden. And that’s a fact.