Old friends Bill and Judy
Fleener brought lunch and a welcome visit today. When I say old, I mean the
term in several ways. They are indeed old, like me—Bill is 85, and Judy
probably on the edge of 80 if not there. But you’d never know it. There’s old
in another sense though—Judy Weiland Fleener and I grew up next door as
youngsters so we’ve literally known each other all our lives. In 1961, Judy
married Bill, a priest at the local Episcopalian church, and they soon moved on
to another parish. We lost touch except for Christmas cards but ours is another
tale of a Facebook friendship rekindled. Bill retired from a church in
Muskegon, Michigan and they still live there.
We weren’t much alike as
kids—she athletic and generally fearless, me much ore bookish; she from a
Republican household, me from a yellow-dog Democratic background; she, a private
school kid; me, one who went K-12 to public school. It’s amazing now how much
we have in common today—politics, religion (we follow different faiths but both
are involved in them), cooking, books, kids and grandkids. We never run out of
things to talk about on our rare visits, though today there was a lot of
reminiscing about Chicago and Hyde Park, our neighborhood.
They are following a
grandson’s spring baseball tour but taking side trips, such as to Dallas to see
friends and to Austin to visit his sister. They fit me in between Dallas and
Austin and arrived with tuna sandwiches—I had directed them to one of my
favorite cafés.
Their visit was a
wonderful high point in my day. I have decided that my days are best in the
morning. I often work like a fiend, though I have so many “brush fires” on my
desk, I rarely get to writing. After lunch, a nap, and I wake up slowly,
reluctant to get out of bed. The afternoons and evenings are lazy, though
that’s when I write—still, I don’t have the fire to get things done as I do in
the mornings.
Dinner out with another
old friend helped revive me tonight. She would not be happy if I told you how
old she is, but we’ve known each other 25-30 years. She’s good about checking
on me to be sure I have company and am all right. Tonight we went to our
wonderful seafood place, Pacific Table. Before I go to a restaurant, I usually
pull up the menu on the computer and decide what I want. I had done that
tonight, and I had Caesar salad with fried oysters. The oysters were piping hot
but delicious once they cooled enough to be eaten, and the salad was one of the
best Caesars I’ve had. Plenty of dressing on each and every leaf of romaine. I
loved it.
Kathie and I talked
people, art (she’s a docent at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art), food
(we swapped recipes), and generally had a good visit. Now, home and in jammies,
I must post this blog and write 500 more words on my novella.
Night ‘all. Sweet dreams.
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