Make New Friends...

The old Girl Scout song about friends goes,

Make new friends,
But keep the old!
One is silver
And the other gold!

There's a lot of truth in that song.

Yesterday, I took some "new" friends to Urbana to meet with some "old" ones. And it was a blast.

Loni, Lisa, Bryn, and I went over to shop at Nancy Muncaster's quilt shop, Sew Sassy.

 It's located in Lincoln Square, and has been very successful.

I didn't really shop, aside from buying a packet of needles and a quilt pattern. I spent all my time chatting with Nancy! She called Bob and he popped over from campus - he's still teaching and has been Dean of Undergraduate Studies in the College of Math for the past four years.

It was great to see Bob and Nancy again - our friendship goes back to the early 1980s and they were the breeders of our first dog, Duffy.

Their son, Brant, had given Nancy some fancy quilt decals for her car. She was so excited to show them to me.

 I noticed they had the same license plate letters they'd had since we first met. That made me smile.

After we paid for our purchases, I suggested we lunch at The Courier Cafe - my second time there in a week!

 The place to go when you visit Urbana, that's for sure! As soon as I walked in, I saw two teachers who had taught 5th grade at Leal when I was teaching at Yankee Ridge. I only knew them by face, not name, and so just smiled at them. Then, Becky Gordon walked by! I taught her kids, Kristi and Nick. We're Facebook friends, but still, it was fun to grab a quick hug.

I treated Lisa, Loni, and Bryn to a plate of The Courier's famous Skinny Dippers - they loved them!

After lunch we all had ice cream treats - mine was a hot fudge sundae.

It's always a bit poignant for me, going home to Illinois. When you live someplace for twenty seven years and raise your kids there, there are so many connections and memories. I miss those. Terribly.

But, as the song goes, I have made new friends, and judging from yesterday's experiences, clearly have  kept many of the old.  Call me blessed.