ANOTHER STORY? SURE! I’M READY. I’LL DRINK TO THAT. KEEP ‘EM COMING!
Met up with an old friend today who my husband and I have known for 37 years. We see him more often now since his wife passed away and he needs good friends supporting him in these tough times.
We talked for 3 and a half hours at a local coffee shop discussing our recent holiday trips. All of us had seen family and had been going new places. We shared all the things we had done lately. Then since we’re 70ish we brought up old stories and people from our past. When we’re 70ish, it’s comforting to talk to friends who are 70ish.
We both hugged our friend as we first walked into the local coffee shop, I lifted my head up and said, “I don’t want to get makeup on your jacket!”
Our friend said, as he often does, “it’s all right. Oh, I have a makeup story!” He has lots of great stories with a solid memory to back them up. He started to tell us about when he was a teenager growing up in New Mexico and was dating a twin. His friend and he went double dating to their high school prom with Vonna and Donna. The twins tried to switch places but the guys knew they were trying to trick them because the twins had slight differences in speech and one was nearsighted and kept asking, “Who is that coming toward us?”
The twin our friend dated also wore thick foundation and loads of makeup. Our friend had borrowed his father’s white dinner jacket for prom night and when he got home, it was all stained on the shoulder with makeup. His Dad didn’t say anything to our friend’s relief and took the dinner jacket to the dry cleaner. Then in another few days he took the same girl to her prom because she went to a different high school. He asked to borrow the jacket from his dad again and without a word, his dad handed him the white dinner jacket, clean and bright. Boy was he happy.
Our old friend can tell stories all day long. Just mention something like “makeup” and he’ll tell you a story. Or like one of us mentioned how our hearing is getting worse since we’re 70ish. Boom. He told a story about his wife a few years back making him go get a hearing test. The doctor said that he had lost a little hearing but overall passed the test and can hear well. Going home that day after his doctor visit, he shared this with his wife. She was so ticked off and angry. She said,”So if your hearing is fine, then you just must not be listening to me when I talk.” He said he tried to listen to her more closely after that.
I’LL LISTEN TO YOU. I AM ALL EARS.
Revitalized by fresh coffee and some sandwiches that day at the local coffee shop, the stories kept flowing. We discussed people we had worked with and what we thought of them. Some were living and some had passed away. It didn’t matter. Next we got onto the subject of movies. Our friend loves Greek films because he’s Greek. He said lately he’s watched old movies from the 1960’s like Zorba the Greek, Never on a Sunday and a newer one that’s hilarious, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. He likes how the characters remind him about his upbringing with Greek parents. “It’s funny but in that movie Greeks are credited with inventing and discovering all things and that’s what my parents said also. Who invented the automobile? Greeks. Who invented pasta? Greeks.”
Our friend is a grand storyteller. Naturally we were so lucky to get to hear him recount many fun stories that day from his perspective. We got to share a few stories of our own but our friend is tough to beat at storytelling. It’s not easy to pass up a chance to hear good friends share their stories. It’s an art, telling a story in an interesting way. I think the Greeks invented it. Next time I can ask my friend if that’s true. He will know.
Those 70ish Girls 
I was challenged and tried to get in some Sanderson worthy stories but needed some backup!
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This is great! I thought hard and couldn’t come up with one make up story. Surely a Greek person can’t upstage a Sanderson! I hope you held your own!!
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