I was really looking forward to Saturday because I had a “date” with two old college friends.  In 1994, I graduated from what is now Longwood University (in our day, it was Longwood College).  I hadn’t seen my friends Donna and Joann since those days in Farmville, though Facebook had kept us in touch somewhat.

Donna, Joann, and I were all English majors.  Joann was Donna’s “big sister” in their sorority.  I was Donna’s big sister in our honorary music fraternity.  Donna was one of the first people I met freshman year, back in 1990.  If I recall correctly, we met while waiting in line to shop at the bookstore.  There was no Amazon.com back in the those days.  Donna was later my suite mate during our sophomore year.

I met Joann in a British lit class.  We both had Dr. Massie Stinson, one of my favorite Longwood profs.  In his very soft, southern drawl, he taught us about romantic British literature as we read The Mayor of Casterbridge and works by Tennyson, Keats, and Shelley.  I didn’t know it back then, but Joann is from Lexington, Virginia, which is very close to where both of my parents grew up.  It’s also where Bill and I got married.

So we made a date at Macado’s for noon on Saturday.  Macado’s also has a location in Farmville, as all Longwood students know.  In our day, it was pretty much the only game in town for a fun bite to eat.  I’m sure that’s changed by now.  I actually had a long standing grudge against Macado’s for many years, but I figured it would be fitting to go there last weekend.

Donna came with her husband and adorable 11 year old daughter in tow.  I could see Donna’s husband was relieved that I brought Bill with me so he’d have a guy to talk to.  Joann is single.  Our party of six was lively as we enjoyed sandwiches and I ordered what used to be my favorite thing to eat when I was in college, macaroni and cheese.  It wasn’t quite as good as I remembered it, though it was pretty close.

Old Longwood friends!

Mac and cheese…  Mine is better.

While we were hanging out, I had the opportunity to confront Donna’s daughter, whom I’d heard had unofficially dubbed me “the cusser”.  Apparently, I swear too much on Facebook.  When I asked her about it, she blushed bright red… almost enough to match her bright red hair!  It was super cute!  I was impressed by how well behaved she was, hanging out with all the adults who were temporarily regressing back to their early 20s.

After lunch, we walked around Lexington and visited Celtic Tides, an Irish store that I’ve given a lot of business over the years.  I bought a plaque for my office that reminds me of my Celtic boozy genes.  We went to another store called Pumpkinseeds, which is where I bought two pairs of earrings I don’t really need.  For some reason, if I like something and in comes in different colors, I have to buy two.  Must be my Gemini “twin” thing.

Obviously, I had something important to say…

We finally ended up in a small park where the town Christmas tree was all lit.  One of my cousin’s wives found us there and reminded me that my Aunt Nancy was celebrating her 80th birthday in the form of a cocktail party.  I had forgotten all about it…  Actually, no one ever gave me the details and I wasn’t sure where she lived.  But as it was getting dark, we decided to part ways after a very fun five hour visit.

A shot of the movie theater in Lexington.

We stopped by the homeplace to see if anyone was around.  No one was, so we ate our leftovers from Macado’s and then went back to the inn for our last night there.  I decided to turn in early, since I knew Sunday and Monday were going to be big travel days.

I hope it won’t be another 20 years before I see these two ladies again.  But since I doubt my family will ever totally leave Rockbridge County, I’m sure we can work out another reunion sooner rather than later.