AKA- V is for Valarie

Inspiration: 1979 Elton John becomes 1st pop star to perform in Israel

 

We met on the first day of high school at the lunch table in the cafeteria

like Bedouins coming together at an oasis.

Four years of classes, crushes, and passing notes-

we managed to learn a little in between.

 

Weekend sleepovers with grandma tapping on the wall

for us to be quiet and go to sleep.

Getting in trouble for long distance phone calls

when the phone bill arrived just because we lived in separate cities.

 

Driver licenses, first cars, the freedom of the open road.

Always a duo, even when other friends came along.

Though we went to separate colleges the bond was just a strong

cemented by our summers in Connecticut.

 

Weekend trips to historic houses

from the seventeen and eighteen hundreds-

castles, aquariums, Mark Twain’s house,

train rides to New York City and seeing Beauty and the Beast.

 

But the best parts of those summers

were the morning swims, nightly walks with the dogs

around the cul-de-sac, and ice cream sundae-movie nights

in our basement hideaway.

 

Driving through towns ending in “bury” and “ford”,

Stopping by the boulder overlooking the ocean

to take a picture of ourselves every year.

There’s no shortage of pictures of us from this time in our lives.

 

The fun times continued at home in South Florida.

Weekends no longer had curfews,

though most of the time we just went

to the movies and hung out at the pool.

 

There was the Elton John concert.

We sang every song by heart

and the time we got dressed up

for an elegant dinner and took in a Broadway show.

 

The unemployed years of our early twenties

when we wondered when we’d get our chance.

Talking on the phone every day for hours,

though now I couldn’t say about what.

 

New friends came into our lives and also, sadly,

a special one went on ahead of us,

leaving a scar

that could never quite heal.

 

Sometimes our paths diverged – like a braid that unravels,

Yet the strands always managed to intertwine again.

 

#MDBC2016

 

May Day Blogging Challenge 2016

What is it?

A way to make sure we continue writing throughout the next month because we need to be held accountable.

How does it work?

Using http://www.onthisday.com/ find an event from history for each day of the month and use that for an inspiration for our daily post. It can be anything from History, Music, Film & TV, Sports. And of course creative license is allowed- to tie back to the historical event in any way we find relevant.

What is the format?

It can be any length but should be fairly short. It can be a poem, story, an essay, a rant, and editorial, etc. Posts should be hashtagged #MDBC2016 on social media.

What happens if we don’t post?

Absolutely nothing, except we will be disappointed with ourselves and each of us is required to make the other feel bad if this occurs.