-William Shakespeare
I keep saying that I am "stuck" in Missoula. While that may be literally true, "stuck" has a bit of a negative connotation to it. I am trying to make the best of it, and today I had some real help with that. My old friend Marine Watson (Neen to us from those days) lives a very short drive north of Missoula. Thanks to our mutual friend Rob for tagging her in one of my earlier posts on Facebook, she saw I was here in Missoula for a few days and got in touch with me. We agreed that I'd come up today to see where she works, and grab some lunch and catch up.
A bit of background here - If my memory is correct, I first met Neen when I was in 8th grade. She was a year ahead of me in school, but her younger sister was in my class. Her family moved into the neighborhood on the base in Maryland where a lot of my friends lived. That neighborhood was called Carpenter Park - and to this day at reunions and such we still refer to that group as "The Carpenter Park Kids".
Back to present - I drove up to St. Igantius this morning and met Neen where she works. We had not seen each other in 30 years, but I recognized her as soon as I walked in. She gave me a tour of the place, and I was blown away. It is an auction house that deals in Native American Art - there were shelves upon shelves of beautiful pieces of artwork - handwoven rugs and blankets, wood carvings, paintings, figurines, intricately beaded clothing, photographs, books, etc. - it was almost too much to take in.
This photo wasn't the best one of us today, but I think it was the one that shows how much stuff they have in this warehouse!
We went to a great little bar & grill just outside of town and caught up over lunch the way that old friends do... first talking about what each one has been doing for the past 30 years, then moving on to "do you know what happened to so and so...?" After a great lunch (best burger I've had in a long time) we agreed that we'd get together at least one more time while I was here. I'm looking forward to that.
I headed back to Missoula to check into my AirBnB. I unloaded all my stuff and headed out to the grocery store for provisions. It'll be nice to have a kitchen for a few days - eating out all the time gets old after a while.
It was a good day.
A bit of background here - If my memory is correct, I first met Neen when I was in 8th grade. She was a year ahead of me in school, but her younger sister was in my class. Her family moved into the neighborhood on the base in Maryland where a lot of my friends lived. That neighborhood was called Carpenter Park - and to this day at reunions and such we still refer to that group as "The Carpenter Park Kids".
Back to present - I drove up to St. Igantius this morning and met Neen where she works. We had not seen each other in 30 years, but I recognized her as soon as I walked in. She gave me a tour of the place, and I was blown away. It is an auction house that deals in Native American Art - there were shelves upon shelves of beautiful pieces of artwork - handwoven rugs and blankets, wood carvings, paintings, figurines, intricately beaded clothing, photographs, books, etc. - it was almost too much to take in.
This photo wasn't the best one of us today, but I think it was the one that shows how much stuff they have in this warehouse!
We went to a great little bar & grill just outside of town and caught up over lunch the way that old friends do... first talking about what each one has been doing for the past 30 years, then moving on to "do you know what happened to so and so...?" After a great lunch (best burger I've had in a long time) we agreed that we'd get together at least one more time while I was here. I'm looking forward to that.
I headed back to Missoula to check into my AirBnB. I unloaded all my stuff and headed out to the grocery store for provisions. It'll be nice to have a kitchen for a few days - eating out all the time gets old after a while.
It was a good day.
❤ The older I get, the more I come to realize just how important those first true friendships were - and are. There's nothing like meeting with an old friend to bring back treasured memories that have been locked away so long. It's funny, as we sat talking and reminiscing, I totally saw my childhood friend as he was then...long brown hair, skinny 'stache, total hotrod vibe about him. Lol. The universe has certainly made my life richer today. ��
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