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Monday, July 4, 2011

40 Is The New 20

Several of you have asked about my trip last weekend and it's so nice of you to care.  I haven't been avoiding you all, it's just that I've been a little "off" this week and wasn't really motivated to do anything.  But here I am trying to get back into the swing of things.

As you recall, four friends went away for four days to celebrate four decades.  Here we are in 1989:

And here we are in 2011 (Remember what your mama taught you, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."):

We had an absolute blast.  Everyone met in baggage claim and the chatter started then and didn't really stop until 1:30PM on Sunday.  Other than constantly discussing our husbands, children, and trips to Disney, we also. . . . drove about 2 hours a day in our HHR.

Visited Hershey, PA where we created our own personal candy bar (mine was milk chocolate and pretzels) and went to a tasting to learn how to distinguish the flavors in Hershey's chocolate.  Good times!

 We spent several hours learning about the Amish.  This included a film about Rumspringa , a tour of a one room school house and typical home, and a buggy ride.

The best line of the weekend was spoken on this buggy ride.  The girl "driving" the buggy grew up in a Mennonite home and was attending University locally instead of joining the church and following typical cultural paths.  She said, "Yea, it's ironic that I drive a buggy all summer to pay for my college tuition."  Awesome.

The place we stayed was simple and comfortable and I would recommend it to anyone.  We lounged around each day until noon and then headed out for our "excursion".  

I wouldn't trade the time, I tell you and I am already excited about doing it again.  The question is whether to wait five years or do something small in two (I have a friend who does this yearly).  I vote for two because, besides the joy of laughing, I learned a lot from these women.  Each of them have children that are older than mine (ranging from 14 to 9) and I learned so much from Heather telling of conversations she has had with her kids, Debbie explaining their decision to give her eldest a cell phone, and Monica's submission to her husband and God's work in them.  

So, if you have friends (and I know you do!) plan a getaway and get caught up and encouraged.  You don't have to travel to Amish Country to do it, but you wouldn't be sorry if you did!

6 comments:

Loves crochet said...

So happy that you all had a wonderful trip. Love, love the pics, but especially the re-creation of the high school foursome! Each of you look wonderful and no one has changed much at all. It makes me feel good to know how each of you cherish your friendship and keep in touch.

annaj said...

Love it! Good stuff.

April Barber said...

Glad you had a good time. Can't wait to hear more in person.

Dawn said...

Looks like you had a great time! Love the shirts :)

Kitty said...

Love this and am a wee bit envious. However, I've decided that 40 is definitely not the new 20 (and I know you were joking) or even the new 30. It's just 40 and I'm not that fond of it.

Steph Hubach said...

Auuggh! You were in my neighborhood!! We live right smack in the middle of where you had your great adventure! Would have loved to see you...but I'm glad you had fun!

With Love, Steph Hubach