Cathy & Col connecting in Corning

Thirty years! It was thirty summers ago that I first met my friend, Colleen. We were working on the same shift at Ontario Place and the deal was instantly and forever sealed when we discovered that we had both lived in The Hat at the same time. (That’s Medicine Hat, Alberta for the few of you who wouldn’t just know that!) 

We have kept in touch when we could throughout these 30 years, and last weekend met halfway between our homes in beautiful Corning, NY. We started talking at about 11am on Saturday when we hugged hello, and stopped talking at about 10am Sunday when we hugged good-bye. While talking we had lunch, browsed the cute shops, walked across the river to the Steuben Glass store, where we bought matching bracelets, drank coffee, sipped wine, enjoyed a delicious dinner, etc. etc.

What did we talk about? Our jobs/careers, our husbands (good stuff, except for snoring), our homes, our kids/niece (little Rosebud), friends in common (some we’ve never met but have heard so much about we feel we know, like Col’s friend, Wendy in the Soo), our parents, our futures (new freedoms and adventures, new angsts), our handbags (same brand), being frugal vs. cheap, books we both enjoyed (Olive Kitteridge) and recommendations, cosmetic cases (mine is older than 30 years – okay, I’m sentimentally attached to it because of where and when I bought it – in San Fran from a woman who went by the name “Ocean”), U.S. politics, The Hat, and probably everything in between.

It was a great weekend, Col! 

Coincidentally, my sis-in-law, Vicki, flew to Atlanta the same weekend to catch up with her childhood friend of the same name.  It must have been girlfriend-reunion weekend.