The last time I saw my friend Mae was in 1965. School was out, summer was just beginning in Chicago and my parents had decided to move back home to Alabama. I cried all the way south.
About two months ago, Rick received an e-mail asking him if his wife, Jilda lived in Chicago in the mid 60's.......it was my friend Mae! She and her husband had moved to Jasper from Houston, she had read Rick's weekly column in the local paper and he had mentioned me.
Today, I had lunch with Mae. It was as though we had only seen each other yesterday.
She was still my friend Mae, bubbly and full of life.......I met her husband Bill......and we tried to play catch up on our lives, but it will take way more than one lunch.
She is going to college......she has children and grandchildren......she has some health issues.
As we sat and talked, it was just like being back in Chicago.....sitting on the steps of the apartment building where we lived.
I truly never thought I would see any of my friends from Stockton School ever again......what a wonderful surprise and gift. Mae, has been back and visited some of our friends, the old neighborhoods and school. I still have family in Chicago, I think I need to visit them.
Rick asked me today, after our lunch, if I had ever thought about how different my life would be if my family had stayed in the city. I have thought about it often during the years, but life goes the way it should. I would never have met Rick and all the incredible friends I have today if I had stayed in Chicago. Life is how it should be.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
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How wonderful to meet an old friend like that! Yes, I also think life turns out the way it should.
ReplyDeleteLove the ending. I think that sums it up for everyone.
ReplyDeleteGreat story!
Awww it's so lovely to have met up with your friend Mae! Hope you both get to have more lunches together! Take care
ReplyDeletex
I remember in Brownies we sang a song "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold". That is one of my favorite songs and sentiments.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy that you and I and Kay and Marcia caught back up with each other after all these years, too.
I remember in Brownies we sang a song "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold". That is one of my favorite songs and sentiments.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy that you and I and Kay and Marcia caught back up with each other after all these years, too.
I absolutely loved your last line "Life is as it should be." I so agree with this. I believe everything happens for a reason. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is such a wonderful story of reunion after many years. Though we've been living in the Pacific NW for the last dozen years, my husband and I are also from Chicago, so your post made me think of old times. :)
For me, Facebook has brought several happy reunions with old friends I haven't seen in many years.
--Susan