I got to experience an unplanned gathering of my children's long-time friends, some of whom I haven't seen in years. Some of them have children now, and I even got to hold one of them -- just a couple of months old -- in my arms!
They fell right back into easy "black girl/white girl" friendships. (Remember, they went to public schools in Little Rock, Arkansas -- they are very comfortable being friends with people who may not look exactly like them. They even had a "Black Girls/White Girls Club" in high school and all of them had "names" from the other race. Younger Daughter's black-girl name was LaTacoBella; one of the black girls' white-girl name was Muffy Buffington.). A few guys even showed up. The group was made up of both locals and several who have re-located at a distance. They reminisced, they watched old home movies, they pored over high school yearbooks, they laughed, they cried, they "slumber-partied," they drank too much, and ate too little.
At twenty-seven years of age, they buried one of their own. She looked like a sleeping angel. They "called the Hogs" at the cemetery.
And, they celebrated her too-short life as only they could -- together again, as she would wish.
Rest in peace, sweet Casey. You're not in pain any longer, but you will be missed. And never forgotten.
Sorry for your (and their) loss, blogfriend. Prayers for healing.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing sadder than a premature passing. Nothing. That said, one makes the best of sad situations and your daughters and yourself seem to have done exactly that.
ReplyDeleteThat said... and despite the sadness of this post... "Muffy Buffington" made me grin. That nails it, don't it?
Moogie, we've had a couple of those spontaneous reunions around our place with the older boys and their mates.
ReplyDeleteAlways a blast, for them, and for us. But we've never had a gathering in sadness. That's gotta be tough.
I'm with Buck. The names are hilarious. LaTacoBella...nyuk!
Oh, I mentioned this post to Pam, and she said, "Reminds me of The Big Chill." I don't know if you've seen the film or not. It's about 30 years old, I think. Worth a rental.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the names have always been a hoot, guys.
ReplyDeleteWatching them was exactly like watching The Big Chill. I thought of that as it was happening.
One good thing came out of this sadness -- their group re-discovered one another, and I doubt they'll take their friendships for granted anymore. You know how bulletproof twenty-somethings can be -- there's always tomorrow. They got a group lesson in how sometimes tomorrow never comes. It was so wonderful to see them together again.
re: The Big Chill.
ReplyDeleteThe opening scenes... specifically when they played The Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want" at the funeral... was when I turned to The Second Mrs. Pennington and said "I think I'm gonna LIKE this movie."
I need to update my will to make sure that same song is played at MY services.
Who was it that played the corpse? It was some guy who eventually made it pretty big.
ReplyDeleteI think I'd like that one at my services, too!