Yesterday I attended another memory-making event--the family gathering celebrating the 55th anniversary of my old friends Mel and Jo. Their family and ours bought houses in a new tract in North Torrance, CA in 1966. At the time they had their four young kids and my husband I had two kids. In 1967 we adopted a third, Tony, as a newborn and not only does our own family remember that momentous day when we brought him home with Joe and Christy riding shotgun in the back seat of the car, Mel, Jo and their family were the first ones to welcome us home with the new baby. We raised our kids together to adulthood--and the stories we could tell (and often do)! Suzy, Mel and Jo's eldest, remembers babysitting Tony when he was an infant. The celebration yesterday was at Suzy's home.
When I look at the faces of friends I knew since we were young, the years simply slip away--and we all just are who we are.
These are Mel and Jo's children--Steve, Tracy, Suzy and Shari. Each of them have two adult children. It was so much fun yesterday reminiscing. Tracy and my daughter Christy were particularly close, but both our families--and several others--were often blended as one big family. Those truly were the good old days.
And here I am with Mel and Jo. So many people were hugging Mel and Jo that their leis began to fall apart. We spent almost as much time in each other's houses in the olden days as we did in our own.
This photo I "borrowed" from Mel and Jo's son-in-law Corey's Facebook today. I'm still glowing from this party yesterday. Most of these people are Mel and Jo's family with just a handful of "old" (some of us very old) friends sprinkled in.
Thank you so much for sharing your special day with me. Tomorrow I'm going to hunt for a few photos of us when we were all young.
As Psalm 128:6 says, "May you live to see your children's children-- peace be on Israel." Peace is indeed ours; we have lived to see our children's children. You can't ask for much more in life.