Give or take Thirty Years...

Lourdes R., Lourdes A., Isabel and Yours truly....

Who says that you can't pick up where you left off?

This week I joined three of my high school friends for lunch here in S. Florida. This will make the fourth time this year that I have met up with girlfriends from my past and it's all thanks to that wonderful social networking site, Facebook.

It's been approximately 30 years since I last had contact with these fine ladies. These are the same girls that once upon a time shared all the craziness, the amazing feeling of falling in love for the first time, the "Quinces" (Sweet 15 for those of you that don't know) and so much of life's lessons that most 14 - 17 year olds share when you have a strong circle of friends and we did. You see, we were all products of immigrant families. We did not blend in with the customs of our wonderful country because as most immigrants and 1st generation kids, you are still either assimilating into not only a new land but also a very different culture than your own or that of your parents. We went to an all girls Catholic high school. We were not allowed to date without a chaperon and before that, the boy had to come and speak to our fathers. Good grief can you imagine??. Sleep overs NEVER happened unless our parents were good friends and the list goes on but our group had all of those things and then some in common.

One would think that with everything that goes on in life and with so many years that have passed between us we'd not have anything in common. Au-contraire my friends. Meeting up with these girls was as if no time had gone by. They are all still as beautiful as they were when we first met. The openness, honesty of what's gone on in our lives without hesitation and in a manner that only true friends share, the appreciation and acknowledgment that not everyone gets a second chance to reunite was all there. We are all very different yet we are all very much the same. The memory is a funny thing. I can't remember where I put my glasses an hour ago yet sitting with my girlfriends brought back memories that I had not thought of since my days back at St. Matthias  High School.

Who can forget Isabel and I being the tallest girls and when you are 14 or 15 and all the boys have not even begun to grow to their potential height, being the tall girl is not so cool, TRUST ME on that one. Of course the minute that any of the local boys who'd been blessed (for our sake of course) with a hight of over 5'10 appeared, we'd be watching and circling them like sharks although they all thought they were the ones circling us...lol.

Lourdes R. was always happy and always together talking about all the dances she'd been involved in all the friends that she had etc. She was a social butterfly.  I remember her being very carefree but very focused.

Then there was Lourdes A.  Ahhhh my Lourdes A. She was not only my friend but she was my confident and even played the role of my older sister. Out of everyone, she shared many of my life's happy times and not so happy times. She's in my memories of family vacations because she was family and of being at a point in life where the decisions that we made back then formed much of WHO we became today. I have memories of Lake Havasu, San Felipe, Redondo Beach just to name a few with her. In years past, even before I had the fortune or ever thinking of meeting up with her again, when I'd think back to my life and those formative years, she was right there in all of my memories.  When she and I got together a few months back we talked for hours, laughing hysterically like school girls once again. We shed tears of happiness and tears of sadness but we mainly were thankful to God for allowing us to once again share as good friends do.

My friends have evolved into wonderful women and exceptional mothers. Isabel is involved in Broadcast/Media sales and killing it I might add.  Lourdes R. is doing the job that only people who truly want to make a difference in a child's life do. She is a teacher and that says it all and just hearing her speak, I know she puts in more than her share because she truly is a kind hearted and caring woman. Then there is big sis Lourdes A. I can't even begin to tell you all of her accomplishments. From being a Developer, Realtor, mom, wife, politician....the list goes on. . She is a fine example of what you can accomplish while never forgetting about your God. She not only is a successful business woman in every sense of the word but she is successful in her Ministry. I should say that her Ministry comes first and her business is second in line yet with all of her success, she still makes time to be very encouraging to us all. I guess she never got rid of the "Big Sis" title :)

In the end, those four women pictured above who used to giggle and had no cares in the world other than worrying about their hair, make up and the silliness of it all began life as friends. Now they've picked up where they left off 30 years ago only this time around they are mature, seasoned women with families, careers, a sense of accomplishment, independence and the blessing of living out the second phase of their lives, once again as friends making more memories for the next 30 or so years.

Ladies.....I thank you ♥