The Journey Has Begun

In 2007, I gathered with old (no pun intended) friends in NJ for a "30 Something" reunion (given that our high school graduation date was 1976. What's a year or two between friends, anyway? Admittedly, I was nervous. I moved to New England, specifically NH, about 20 years earlier and lost touch with most of my former high school classmates. I made the 7 hour drive to visit family and to attend the reunion.

I was amazed at how great everyone looked! Most of us "aged well", especially the women! Some of us got to talking about turning 50, how we used to think 50 was so old. I don't recall where the idea came from but we talked about a road trip, just women, to go visit our friend, Nancy, on her farm in Nebraska. That was 3 years ago.

Yesterday, several of us gathered on a conference call and finally put our plans in place. The beauty of Web 2.0 technology and social networking, specifically Facebook, enabled us to stay in touch and facilitated our plans.

The interesting thing is that I didn't really hang out with these wonderful women in high school. I knew them, but they weren't part of my very small circle of friends. I say small circle not because I wanted it to be exclusive in any way, but because it was what it was. My peer group was pretty much my field hockey girls: Lynn Rich and Donna Dorshimer. More later on high school peer pressures and people's assumptions. Bottom line: high school was and still is a tough time for kids.

MaryAnn Marino Potts and I lived in the same neighborhood and went to St. Matthew's School together in first and second grade. I began public school in the third grade.

Debbie Press-Costello (who unfortunately had to drop out of our trip yesterday because of her jet setting world travels takes her away from her place of employment...you know...she had to pace herself ) and I were friends in early elementary school.

Carol Lind Zeoli and I were also friends in later elementary school and junior high.

I knew Debbie Burness-Gasparovic in high school, liked her, but we never really hung out.

I knew of, but really didn't know Nancy Snyder Peterson.

After the 30+ reunion, I discovered that I have more in common with these wonderful women in adulthood than I did in my youth. We've been getting to know each other little by little via Facebook and email. I find what little I know of their lives already amazing. I look forward to learning more about them.

It should be a really cool trip. At the end of June 2010, we plan to fly out to Chicago and meet there to begin our journey. We'll see the city and then hit the road in a rented van to see the sites, including Mt. Rushmore, on our way to Nancy's farm. We hope to connect with other former classmates along the way.

This is the beginning of our chronicle, our excellent adventure, our Thelma and Louise 2010 style trip. Stay tuned.