Reunion -- All They Ever Wanted

So later this afternoon, D2 is off to MIA, and then to NYC, for a 4th of July reunion weekend. Her boyfriend is there, and she looks forward to seeing him, of course, but the highlight is a reunion of the Women of Yellow House. She was lucky to live with the same 3 friends junior and senior years at UF -- in a house right across from their sorority house, painted Sponge Bob yellow. D2, Cath, Ashley, and Alli became like sisters -- sharing that most exquisite part of life together -- going from girls to young women. I was always so happy to visit them in the house. Someone was coming or going, and there was vodka in the freezer. During graduation week, I helped myself to too much of it... I lived for three and a half years in an on campus apartment -- 22Z. Barry moved in and was there for three of those years. Eric commuted, but crashed there regularly. These guys are still two of my closest friends. We still tell many tails from that time -- to the eye rolling of our wives and kids, except Eric's wife Dana, who was there for the final year of this extraordinary male bonding. My friend Jorge lived there for a year, before he left to get prematurely married. Another friend, Mike, is an academic doctor like Barry -- but in Arkansas, of all places. Mike WAS Mr. Long Island -- classic heavy accent, lived for the NY Jets, and the thought of him in Little Rock always makes me smile. Another friend, Colin, became extremely rich and lives in his native Hong Kong. D1 had a reunion of her dear friends a year or so ago. They met in Utah, where Hannah's family has a vacation house. She savored her time with her group of Palmetto and UF girls... The other day, Barry's boy Josh spent the night, after a long Miami bike ride. He was telling Wifey, D2 and me that he'd go to college, but didn't think it "essential." Steve Jobs is one of his heros...D2 pointed out that college may or may not get you a better job, but that either way it was the best years of your life. I agreed. You never regain that awesome mix of adult and kid...everything seems possible, and money and power take a back seat to just being with your friends and laughing so hard your belly hurts. D2 has her MS, and now an apartment all ready and waiting in Murray Hill. She moves in the Fall. Adulthood with an asterisk awaits. The asterisk is Wifey and me, who have the wherewithal to help and advise her far past the point our parents helped and advised us. This is both good and bad. But this weekend, the Yellow House ladies are set to catch up. D2 will join Ali and Ashley in NYC -- Ali is getting a grad degree as a Child Life Specialist, and Ashley already has her MS and started the same job with Macy's D2 has. Cath is a rising 2L at Emory Law. I will toast them from the Grove, where Wifey and I plan to spend the 4th. They are 4 a(pause) mazing ladies. May their reunion be savored by each. I know it will.