Friday, April 27, 2007

Supermarket Reunion

It is all fine and good when you have 45 minutes to do a shop before yoga but sometimes the best laid plans...well, let's just say I missed yoga but it was worth it!

I was rushing through the vegetable section yesterday trying to decide what to cook on the side of the steaks when I ran into Bert who works backstage at the Flynn. We got to talking and one thing led to another and we were reminiscing about the Flynn and what not.

Then I saw Kelly out of the corner of my eye. The very same Kelly who used to work at the Flynn and also had lunch at my house earlier in the day! So I called over Kelly and we had a mini-Flynn reunion in the vegetable aisle. Bert suggested greens on the side and Kelly suggested fresh mozzarella and tomatoes ( I got both). Mmmm...

Then a pretty smiling girl walked up to me and said, "I know you."

"No autographs," said I. Yuck, yuck.

"You used to know me as Jen Cole," said the still smiling girl whose face all of a sudden clicked into focus. It WAS Jen Cole, my best friend in 8th grade whom I have not seen in, let me count - crikey - almost 20 years!?

Jen and I used to write lots of poems. In fact, we even started a poem book which the other literate girls in our class helped us fill up. I think I may have dedicated one of my poems to either Peter Cetera or Ralph Macchio (I was all about the Karate Kid, in fact, we sang a good rendition of "The Glory of Love" at a party last weekend, I was touched!).

Jen and I also wrote each other epic notes - 10 pages long. What did we talk about? What did we have to say? God only knows. We were young, bored, creative and there was NO INTERNET!!!!!

Being a teenager in Vermont in the 80s sort of sucked. There was no alternative culture and without the internet, you had no way of knowing it even existed. It was like living in a desolate but pretty cultural vacuum. We couldn't hang out much because we lived in different towns and were too young to drive. So we wrote long notes, talked on the phone a lot and shared all our hopes and dreams.

We also went horseback riding at Jen's house, usually we rode bareback. Her horse had a white star on her face and a sweet temperament. I remember one rainy day when we were meandering through the forest and my horse slipped and we slid down a wet hill - with me still attached to her. We both had the wind knocked out of us but were only slightly scratched.

Riding horses bareback was thrilling and terrifying at the same time. When galloping through a field at crazy speeds, sometimes I would pause to wonder what might happen if my horse stepped in a rabbit hole, sending me sprawling high in the air. After riding we would balance lazily on the backs of our sweaty horses and bask in the sunlight. A girl's life, such bliss.

I still always note the Cole's house when I pass by it on my way to Johnson (as anyone who has ever driven there with me can attest to). Down the hill is her grandparent's house and across the street, her family's farm. Further down the road, their family friend's farm. It is truly beautiful countryside.

So after 20 plus years, what do poetry/horseback riding friends talk about? We will find out as we are doing lunch. This is one of the reasons I moved back to Vermont, to run into people I know at the supermarket and to find my old friends from high school.

Now I just have to make sure not to lose my friends in California. A trip out there in June may be just the thing to ensure it! I bought my ticket, California, here I come! OH BOY!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Being a teenager in Vermont in the 80s sort of sucked. There was no alternative culture and without the internet, you had no way of knowing it even existed. It was like living in a desolate but pretty cultural vacuum."

Being a teenager anywhere sucks relative to everyone else's teen years, or at least we all think so. What I would have given for some country life. Sure, I was around all sorts of alternative culture, but never saw trees, never rode horses, and never slid down a wet hill.

But I did get to see people get shot, lose friends to drug use, have health problems from smog, and all sorts of glorious things from living in a rich, big-city, high-culture environment.

Eva the Deadbeat said...

Are you telling me that you would listen to Peter Cetera if you got to live in the country as a kid?! I thought so!

No, I see your point. And honestly, country life was not all that bad, except the part when the kids in D wing (the vocational section of the HS) made fun of you for wearing anything other than: skin tight jeans, a shammy shirt and high tops. I think I was ridiculed the time I wore my new pair of jams that I was SO excited about. But I suppose high school = ridicule no matter where you live.

I do envy my friends in CA for all the cool bands they went to see when they were teenagers. I think VT was about 5 yrs behind the CA curveball when I was growing up. But it is true, most of them never rode horses bareback.

Tanner M. said...

Thrilling and terrifying indeed... sounds like my first time riding bareback on a horse. plus the orgasm was nice...

digibudi said...

I knew it! The vegetable section in the supermarket isn't boring at all! So great to meet friends and resolve your dinner problems on what to eat at the same time! Great! :)

Suzanne Lowell said...

i've never ridden a horse. i get frightened when i go home to my grocery store. whom will i see? and will i remember there name? will we have anything to talk about? glad your reunion was nice. yoga this week? tuesday and thursday?

Eva the Deadbeat said...

mmm, veggies....