Getting Together After 50 Years

When I was in high school, the recreation center was a place where clubs could meet. I did join a club because well... my cousin (who is actually 4 months older than my mom) was the director of the center.

There were quite of few of my high school friends in the Starlighters so it was a lot of fun. Since I moved to Chicago soon after marriage and didn't return to live in Hawaii for 35 years, I lost track of a lot of those friends. 

Well, one of those friends who happens to be sort of a calabash cousin organized a get-together. Unfortunately many friends were living on the mainland, outer island, on trips or had doctor appointments. So it ended up being just eight of us.

And then I remembered that it is a custom in Hawaii that when girls/women get-together, they bring goodie bags. I was surprised the first time I went to a party and was the only one without something to share. This was not the custom when we lived in Illinois.

I asked my brother, Dennis to make a label for me. I thought it would be fun to put my high school photo and current photo on the label with a song. I suggested Hello Again by Neil Diamond which I loved. Buuut... my brother, the perfectionist said that song came out in 1980. 😏 So he came up with So Happy Together by the Turtles (1967). 

I prepared Hawaiian style boiled peanuts for everybody. Art and Dennis were very happy because they could have the extras.

The get-together was at the Waikele Country Club which is a beautiful place. Our organizer had called and reserved an inside area way in advance. However, because a bigger group signed up, we were surprised to be placed outside on the lanai (patio) in a corner. Still, once everyone arrived, we were just happy to see each other again.

I am very non-adventurous with food. I ordered what I liked some 7 years ago when I was last here with my Zumba group. This is called steamed basa which is a fish.

Our wonderful organizer had prepared a couple of games for us. One was this Thanksgiving Quiz.

This was mine. Dang! I should have known better that it would be Mexico and Central America where the first turkey was domesticated. 

Art said he could have told me Minnesota is the state that produces the most turkeys annually because when he worked for the USEPA, they oversaw the pollution caused by the production of these giant birds.

And wow! I thought I was playing it safe by saying 67% of Americans ate turkey at Thanksgiving. But gee... It's 89% That's a lot of turkeys!

And that BONUS Points question about which country consumes the most turkey per year per capita? 

Israel? Seriously? That was a big surprise!

And by the way.... 😁 I won! I had the most correct, by a hair. 

And the very fun part?

So many goodie bag gifts! 

There was that huge Trader Joes Advent Calendar, lots of really yummy Crispix snacks, delicious homemade cookies, treats from Japan (somebody had just returned from a trip) and beautiful handmade ornaments. And yes, my boiled peanuts.

All in all, it was wonderful connecting with everybody and exchanging ideas, information about caregiving, fun experiences, and just everything!

After 50 years, I discovered we were still the same. And my friends were as wonderful as ever!