Same Time Next Year

My third annual college sorority reunion is this weekend. We waited thirty years before we organized our first get-together in 2008, at which time we vowed to meet every year, and wondered why we hadn’t thought of this sooner.

Aside from the obvious (getting to see old friends), the magic of the weekend is the transformation of fifty-something year old women into eighteen year old college coeds. Who wouldn’t want to be eighteen again for a weekend? But, alas, we are not eighteen. We are grown women with families and jobs and responsibilities. We have aging and infirm parents, we have unrelenting job schedules, we have children and husbands depending on us, and a plethora of other demands on our time.

Sadly, there will be some friends unable to attend this year, but there is next year, and the year after, and so on. We are a determined group of women; determined to stand by our friends through illness or loss, through injury or a son’s deployment, and even through death. We will buoy each other’s spirits as we face whatever life has to throw at us, knowing that we will have next year.

So, to my friends who cannot make it this weekend – know that you will be with us in our hearts. We will raise a glass to you, we will miss you, and we will see you next year.