Thursday, July 9, 2009

Girls of '73

As mentioned in my
“Summer Vacation” blog, while I was in Dover, I got together with some old friends. There are a number of us who get together whenever I get up to Dover. We all went to junior high and high school together, and some of us were in elementary school together. In junior high and high school we were regionalized, two towns together, so this group in compiled of two groups; those who grew up in Dover and those who grew up in Sherborn; hence the name Dover-Sherborn Regional High School. I thought there were about 150 in our graduating class. I was told there were 120. Guess there seemed like more at the time.
As said, a number of us get together; not necessarily the same people all the time. Everyone is contacted, and those who can make it do so. Some live in the Dover/Sherborn area, others live in the western part of the state, and others, like me, live out of state.

This summer ten of us were able to get together; two of us from out of state. I make it home more frequently than some; every Christmas and usually in the summer if no other trips are planned. One friend brought her mother as she had driven up from Cape Cod and didn't want to do the ride back by herself.

It is a good group of women. We all do something different as far as work. Some have college degrees, some do not. Some have kids (they share their pictures and their lives), some are married, some are divorced, some are single (and get bombarded with questions about dating), and some have different sexual preferences, but we all get along. This year we celebrated a birthday.

We meet at the Sherborn Inn and catch up on the year and gossip or reminisce about times gone by. We tell stories about others or about each other. Even though we are mature women, many times we revert back to high school, maybe even junior high, ways. This time we laughed so hard, our sides hurt!

We have met at different restaurants in the past, but the Sherborn Inn has won out the past couple of times. It is very nice. It has a tavern and a dining room. We were told the dining room would be closed, but because we were a large group, they opened it for us.

The Sherborn Inn is an old house. It dates back to 1758, but it used to be a private home. We graduated with a guy who lived there. Don’t know what happened to the family, but he is now living on the Cape. It is celebrating its 20th anniversary as an inn this year. I have heard mixed reviews about it, but have always enjoyed going there; either with family or friends.

I enjoy these times with these women. It is fun to get together with them and cut up. It was a very enjoyable night, and I look forward to more to come.

My Summer Vacation

I just spent 7 days on vacation in Dover, Massachusetts. My sister bought the house we grew up in, so I stay with her when I visit. It amazes me how 2 adults and 6 kids lived in the house when I was a kid. My parents did build two additions, and I guess we did not realize how small it was at the time. My sister has 3 kids. She and her husband have done a lot of renovations, including taking down part of a wall and adding a detached garage. She, however, does not have a guest bedroom, so every time I visit I have to put someone out of their room. This visit it was my nephew Gregory’s turn. Gregory didn’t care. He got to sleep in the “cave”, the basement room with the TV and all the video games.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit home. It started out rainy and cold; I had left 97 degrees in Atlanta; but it eventually stopped raining and warmed up. I was able to actually get a tan line, which I have not done in a long time, as it is not comfortable to sit out in Atlanta. We were able to spend time outdoors. I discovered this was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. I got to sit outside all day and either visit with my sister or just read. I finished two books in 3 days. In Atlanta, it is much too hot to do this unless you have a pool you can jump into frequently.

Because of the rain, we spent a couple of days shopping; didn’t buy anything. Spent another rainy day visiting my mother on Cape Cod; a 2 hour ride took us over 3 hours because of the rain and flooding. The ride home was ok; dry; but it was a good thing we were heading off the Cape, as this was July 3 and the holiday traffic had already begun by 4:00 in the afternoon. There was a five mile backup getting over the Sagamore and Bourne Bridges; the bridges that go over the Cape Cod Canal. This is not unusual for weekend and/or holiday traffic. People have to plan to leave either really early or really late to get onto the Cape. And rain doesn’t help. The same is true for Sundays when people are leaving the Cape to get back to work for Monday.

Spent that night eating my favorite meal – lobster, mussels, steamers (a southerner asked me what these were, didn’t realize someone might not know; they are clams, as opposed to cherry stones which are small quahogs), boiled shrimp, and raw oysters. Pigged out! Ate every bit of everything! When I bought the lobsters, 1 ¼ pounds each, I thought there would probably be
leftovers for lunch the next day. NOT! Absolutely nothing left over except for the empty shells. Then we went on to make "somemores" on the outdoor fire pit. YUM!!!

Another part I enjoyed was getting together with old friends. There are a number of us who get together whenever I get up to Dover. We all went to junior high and high school together, and some of us were in elementary school together. We meet at the Sherborn Inn and catch up on the year and gossip or reminisce about times gone by. But that’s going to be another blog.

Needless to say I had a great visit home. My last day it was raining again, so I figured that was a good sign to leave. Now I just wish they would send a little rain down here!