Resting Up

We had quite a full weekend. Steve worked like a dog both days doing repairs--contingencies for the sale of the house that became required after the engineer's technical inspection. They were mostly simple (to Steve, anyway) electrical and carpentry fixes that the normal person would hire somebody to do but that Steve could do himself. I did what I could to help Saturday until I had to leave for a little ad hoc high school reunion (more on that below) and then Sunday we both worked like crazy, to the point where Steve overdid it and had to stay home today to recuperate. (Overnight road construction, seemingly right below our windows, in the cool, open-windows hours didn't help anybody get a decent sleep). One thing is left do: remove mildew from the wine cellar. I'll tackle that this week by spraying with Tilex and then painting the walls with Kilz primer. Steve fixed the cause, misdirected rainspouts, during the weekend.

The high school get-together was a wonderful break, though I felt guilty leaving Steve here still working. This was an ad hoc party, really, for about 20 people that my wonderful friend Jane has kept up with over the past 40+ years. I'm from the class of '64 and Jane's from '65; I was added on at the last minute when Jane stumbled upon me in Facebook. All the people at the party except me were from Jane's class, but that was OK because I actually had more good friends from the classes immediately before and after mine than I did in my own. Warm friendship is a wonderful institution. We fell into comfortable conversation immediately, as if no years had passed.

There's a special, intimate quality to friendships formed during our early years, when entire families by necessity became part of the relationships. Moms and dads ferried groups of us to parties and got to know everybody. Brothers and sisters were often hangers on and known to the group, too. When we meet later and reminisce, there's as much catching up to do about our families as about ourselves, and old bonds are strengthened that much more.

I'm so grateful to Jane for opening these old doors and allowing wonderful, dearly missed friends back into my life. Being back in regular contact with them is a gift beyond value.