It's a Small World

Ever since I saw the NPR bit on Texas homecoming mums, I've been nostalgic for high school and college and my days in Chicago.  And, with the help of FB, I actually located some of the friends I've been most curious about.  They all said they'd been looking for me years ago but gave up with no luck.  Well, one friend connection led to another, and I found several of them:

• the boy who sat at my table in kindergarten and was in class with me through senior year;
• the boy who was good friends with the boy from kindergarten and whose mom threw great New Year's parties; I went with him to homecoming--and wore one of those big mums (though, they were smaller then);
• the girl who sat behind me in English seminar, who liked theater and football;
• my fraternity (APO, the service org) sister and college roommate in sophomore year;
• a fellow officer in said APO who was an education major;
• a few other APO members;
• my boss at the museum in Chicago;
• and five or six other Chicago museum colleagues.

It's been fun connecting with them all, catching up.  Many are married; many of them have kids, but not all.  Most look pretty much the same--more grey, less hair.  

And then Gommie called me from Austin.  Someone had called out to her at the farmer's market.  And it was that boy from kindergarten through high school, who recognized her, saying she hadn't changed at all.  

The very same week we became friends on FB after 25+ years.  

Flashback

Books.  Post-its.  Copies.

Oh, my!

En Garde

It was so beautiful this afternoon that we spent hours outside after school, eating popcorn and sword fighting.

Excuse me, lightsaber fighting.

Yep, we each had our long, colorful lightsabers.  Sis is always Luke Skywalker and Bud is Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Today, I was Qui Gon.  (Or Ventress, depending.)

And so I gave Bud (Sis "flew" on the swingset, not so interested) some saber-fighting tips, drawn from, of all things, my college fencing class.  Yep, I can wield a foil with aplomb.  Or at least in the eyes of a six-year-old.

We practiced our stance, how to parry, how to block an attack, and how to lunge.  I'm not very good, but it was a lot of fun.  Especially because Bud thought it was so cool.