Oh, to be young enough again to slap a cheerleader...

So I am up in NY for the weekend. We arrived here on Friday afternoon and for the most part, it was a good drive. We were relaxed when we got to my mom's house and we were all feeling good. We came in, relaxed, unloaded the car and were looking forward to all of the things we came to do this trip.

Last night I made plans with my friend Lori. We go way back. Our thing used to be going out to eat. At 18, we had made dining out in to an art form. I lived on my own for a while while she lived at home with her parents but I could call her at any time of the day or night and if I wanted to go out to eat and didn't want to eat alone, she was there for me. The poor girl would sometimes eat two dinners just so that I would have someone with me. Now THAT is a true friend. So, of course, when I called her and told her I was going to be in town and would she like to go out, we knew we had to go out and get something to eat. Because of other things going on - like life - we decided to go out for dessert. Our favortite dessert place was Friendly's. They have great ice cream - plus there's the nastalgia factor. So we agree to meet up at 8:15. We get there to find like 47 cheerleaders under the age of 12 waiting for tables! There was maybe 4 adults with them and let me tell you, these girls had WAY TOO MUCH pep. Seriously. I had to fight the urge many a time to not reach over and slap one!

There was a security guard there who would go to these tables of kids from time to time and remind them to keep it down. This seemed a little bizarre to me but apparently, here on Long Island, it is the norm. I was told there was one at the McDonald's too! Lori and I talked of all of the places that we used to go to to hang out when we were younger and all of the fun that we had but NEVER was there a security guard around to remind us to act appropriately.

So we leave the Friendly's after a VERY yummy triple-chocolate sundae (which, by the way, NOT as big as I remembered it) and were just going to 'cruise' around like the old days. That's when we decided to call the friend who used to be our third partner in crime! I hadn't seen Robin in I don't even KNOW how long. Lori called her house and talked to Robin's husband and asked if it was all right for us to come by and he said yes. So as we drove down there block, I'm taking Lori's word that she knows where we are going and once I pulled up in front of a house, she confessed that she was unsure if this was the house! So now it's late, we're showing up somewhat unannounced and possibly to the wrong house! How very 16 of us!

Well, it was the right house and we went in and Robin did not know that we were there and her husband sent us up stairs to surprise her. Oh, she was definitely surprised! It was SO GOOD to see her! We talked and laughed for hours. While we were sitting there all I could think of was that it was good to be home. On a weekend that has a sad undertone, I was having an amazing time with these amazing people who were once my whole world and here we are 20 years later and it was almost as if no time had passed.

It was a great night, girls! Let's not wait so long to do it again!