‘Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold’ Lyrics from a Girl Scout song that I can remember singing around a campfire during my short stint as a Girl Scout Mom. It’s true though. Friends are priceless. Silver, Gold, Diamonds and Pearls. My vacation trip was all about spending time with friends. Some old, some newer, but all precious.
My first stop was in Richmond, VA where I used to live. During the nine years that I lived there I made a lot of friends. It’s nice to just show up and have everyone be so glad to see you again. I was lucky enough to see a lot of them in one place. Wow, everyone’s lives and children have changed! Isn’t it funny how you expect your friends to stay the same as you left them? Still, it was wonderful to catch up with everyone. And little old Mechanicsville has grown! Target (pronounced Tar-jay) even.
Second stop was Raleigh, NC to meet with a very special friend. It was a bittersweet reunion, but more sweet than bitter. Laughs, tears and sharing. It was hard to leave on Thursday and head back to Virginia.
But once back I made one more call. My very best Virginia friend was still to be seen. And of course, she had something fun planned for the evening. We headed off to an Irish Pub for a Halloween party. I joined her and her absolutely charming friends in donning a visor with an animal on it. It appeared we were going to dress as the characters from “The Unicorn Song”. You know, green alligator, long necked geese, humpy back camels and chimpanzees…. Yeah, I was a rat. We drank a little, talked a little, sang a little and laughed a lot. And we won the costume contest for ‘Most Original’. Which of course meant we had to stand in front of the stage while the band played the Unicorn Song. It was soooo much fun. It was hard to see the night end.
Yup, I’m feeling pretty rich after my trip. Silver and Gold. Tons of it.
