The McAuley Chronicles: Friendships

As most of you know (because I've talked about little else lately), my 20 year high school reunion is this weekend. I emphasize "high school" because I was asked by someone this week whether it was high school or my 20 year college reunion and my reply was . . . "I need a new face cream!"

Anyway, one of my best friends from high school, Penny, is down in Longboat Key for a couple of weeks with her family so I took a little day trip with the girls to see her today. We decided it had been 1994 the last time we actually saw one another. We had gone to dinner in Gainesville at the Alehouse for Penny's birthday. It was there that she saw someone standing at the bar and said, "Isn't that Jeff Nowinski?" whom we knew through another friend. . . . long story short, Penny is now Penny Nowinski!

You just know, somehow, when you have girlfriends who will be your girlfriends for life. Penny is one of those friends. It seemed that we picked up today right where we left off. . . except that we did not get in ANY trouble today! My Mom texted me on my way home and told me how proud she was of us for this! LOL See, Penny and I have LOTS and LOTS of stories. Some (who am I kidding? . . . MOST) of the stories require my 15-year-old neice to be sent out of the room for fear they will give her ideas!

We laughed a lot and told some old stories. We then grimaced thinking of our own daughters who will one day be teenagers just like we were. Surely, they won't make the same mistakes . . . RIGHT? If there were any way to fix it that way, I would!

It was so awesome to see our kids playing together, creating their own memories. Here are some pictures from today.

Pen and Pam

What a dedicated Mommy! It went something like this: as James handed Penny the net, "Mommy I want you to catch me some fish." and as he turned back around, holding up all five fingers on one hand, "Mommy FIVE fish." And off Penny went to try to catch fish in the Gulf of Mexico with a net!