Old Friends And Sleepovers!

 Grandma Lu was asked to speak at the library again in a few weeks. Once again Joey and his mother, Betty, came to listen to her stories. Today was a little different. Grandma Lu wasn't smiling or laughing as often as she usually did. Even little Joey noticed a difference. "What do you think is wrong with that lady, Mom? She's not smiling much today is she?" 

His mother smiled and gave him a hug and answered his questions quietly. "Sometimes, grownups have things that they worry about and that makes them sad. Or maybe she just isn't feeling well. Let's wait and see what she is going to talk about today."

Grandma Lu welcomed everyone and said, Today I am going to talk about friends that we make. As we get older we make lots of friends. Some are close friends that we can tell secrets to and others are just good friends that we can do things with even travel with if we can. Family can be counted on as friends too sometimes. 

We usually make friends with our cousins when we are little if they live close by, then when we start school we make more friends. As we get older lots of times our friends move far away and we don't get to see them very often, but when we do oh what fun it is to talk about all the fun we used to have. That is called by a  big word: reminiscing. Do any of you have good friends?" Grandma Lu smiled when she saw all the hands go up. Even little Joey had his hand up. "He said, "I have a good friend in Sunday school and we see each other in pre-K too. We have fun."

Grandma Lu listened to others talk about their friends and some friends that folks hadn't seen in a long time.

She pointed at the Rondo Items book and said, "This book is all about friends. Rondo was a very small community and so many parents were friends and then the children became friends and on down the line. Some of the grandchildren were also friends. Well, today's story is about friends just like that only not in Rondo but in my hometown, Cherokee, Iowa.

My best friend was Joan. Guess what? Our mothers were friends and you won't believe this but our grandmothers were friends. I call us three generation friends. We were four when our mothers got us together."

A little girl said, "What did little girls do in the olden days?" Grandma Lu chuckled, "Well, about the same things you do with your friends. We played outside. I can remember playing under Joan's pine tree in the dirt with her play dishes and making pretend pies. If we played quietly some of the chickens would even come close by us and scratch in the dirt with us. It was hard to keep from laughing at them. If we did they would run away.

 Joey raised his hand and said, "Did you have trucks and cars?" Again Grandma Lu laughed and said, "Most often in those days girls played with dolls and played house. We also played with our dogs and cats.. Sorry, Joey, no cars or trucks."

When Joan and I got older we would have sleepovers at each others houses. I can remember one that was a disaster. I guess we were about 8-10 years old. Joan was excited to stay overnight with me. We lived quite a ways from each other. We both went to the same school, but we lived in different townships. That was how the schools divided bus routs.. I suppose about ten or fifteen miles. Well that night after supper we got our pajamas on and it seemed like soon it was time to go to bed. Well, Joan wasn't having any part of that. She came down with homesickness! Have any of you ever been homesick? Many of the grownups raised their hands and nodded their heads. Well, homesickness is a real thing. You feel for sure that if you don't go home you will just die for sure. That's just the way that Joan felt that night. My mother called her mother and Joan's mother told her that they would come and get her but that then she couldn't be able to stay overnight again. Oh that was so hard. But my mother was such a good mom and a good friend to Joan's mother. She stayed up all night and put puzzles together with her so that someday she could stay overnight again. But you know what? I don't think she ever did!

I do remember staying overnight at Joan's house for a birthday sleepover. Oh how I got teased. I talked in my sleep! How I remember that. I wonder what I talked about.

Some of the folks asked about Joan and if she ever got to see her after school was out. And of course, the answers were all over the place. Grandma Lu told about  how Joan and she got together for a high school reunion after many years Their husbands burned the steaks on the grill while they were talking. Oh how those men got teased. Thank goodness we had watermelon! Over the years telephone calls and many letters were sent. We each had children and grandchildren and had lots to talk about. 

Betty asked Grandma Lu if she had a picture of her friend. Grandma Lu said, "I sure do. This is us many years ago when Joan and her husband came to visit. They came for breakfast and I was sick. I fed them ugly looking pancakes. They really didn't taste very good either. And you know what? Good friends don't care. They came to see us not my house, not my food, but for hugs and that big word again; reminiscing!

Love you Joan