Claudia

I've known Claudia since middle school.  We played sports in school together...softball, volleyball and basketball representing Frontier Central during the academic year.  Then we played softball on the same teams during the summer.  That continued past college when we played in the Women's Summer Beer League.

The Beer League is just what it sounds like.  Every team was sponsored by a local bar.  After a game, the players from both teams went to the home team's bar to drink and the losing team had to pay for the keg.  Our team had to pay for a lot of kegs!

Claudia and I worked together planning our 40th Class reunion in 2012. She did a heck of a lot more work on it than I did. It was a big group, but when I first put out the idea of a reunion back in 2009, she was the very first one to volunteer to help.

When I wrote to my friends informing them that I'd be coming up north for a visit, I heard from two of them.  One had other commitments for the week and Claudia wanted to see me.  This morning she met me in my hotel for breakfast.  We had a great visit.  No talking about ancient history...only about family and our lives now and how we live it.  It was wonderful. 

It made me remember what it was like when I had the ease of talking to friends who I had known most of my life...who knew all about me and with whom I could pick up a conversation in the middle without skipping a beat. No back stories, no explanations..if even without calls or letters for years, still friends for life.