Two Friends from Class of 1959

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John’s subway-riding buddy Ron and his wife Kathy stayed with us a couple of days on their loop around the US. Ron and John went to a Lutheran high school in the Bronx for three years together. On some Saturdays they would meet underground and ride the New York City subway system for the sheer joy of it. I remember John’s saying they could ride for hours without having to pay another fare, because they knew where the transfer points were. We last saw them at their home in Arizona in 2015.

070518 Classmates Ron and John.jpg

Our neighborhood Fourth of July party went ahead as planned with 14 of us around the table. It was too hot to be on the porch this year.  We ran out of chairs and asked David and Nathaniel to sit on stools.

070418 Neighborhood Party on the Fourth.jpg

Ron offered to play checkers with neighbor Logan (8), and the boy was delighted to have a new opponent. Logan won the first game and Ron the second.

070418 Ron plays checkers with Logan.jpg

This was another good year in the ‘hood for fireworks. There were two households further up the mountain shooting off beautiful fireworks for almost two hours. The free show began about 9 pm, just after John left to pick Nathaniel up from work. Nathaniel thought he and Grandpa might watch the fireworks in Maggie Valley as they did last year, but John said they’d better get home. They came home to the local celebration up the mountain. We laughed and teased Nathaniel that after every long pause he said that must be the end. A few minutes later another shower of light went up. After we went inside for dessert, we heard a few more explosions.

I snagged everyone for a group photo before Ron and Kathy left. We were by no means talked out, but they had many other people to visit.

070518 N Ron Kathy John David.jpg

Sometimes the camera is out when a silly moment happens. The fellows were teasing each other and ended in a group hug.

070518 Three-way hug.jpg

Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

Published

39 thoughts on “Two Friends from Class of 1959”

  5. The fourth of July table and party – what a big dining table you have, and it was wonderful to see so many people together,
    Nathaniel’s fireworks joke that it was the last one and then some more came up- it happens all the time.
    The group hug and the happy faces, that is what caught my attention
    Susie

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    1. John’s godfather, Uncle Walter, gave us that dining table. It belonged to his parents, and he had no room for it when he moved to a smaller apartment. It has four large leaves, all used yesterday. We’ve never used it as a circular table.

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  6. Anne, so love the “story” of our boys. Thank you so much for pampering us while we were there. Always love time spent with you. You & I get to visit an the “boys” get to get into mischief!

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    1. You found this! Great! I was going to send you a link and realized I didn’t have your email address. We enjoyed your visit so very much. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could live closer without moving?

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    1. We’ve had the table for years, given to us by John’s godfather, Uncle Walter. Every Christmas we expanded it to this length to accommodate our large extended family. The last time we used it, we had to have two sittings. After that, we had our celebrations in the church Sunday School wing.

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  9. A couple years back Michigan legalized fireworks. We now have big fireworks displays in the neighborhood for all of the holidays. It’s nice that we can watch right from home. 🙂

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  10. This has been a Summer of family and friends for you and John. It is nice to see so many people seated at that large table – I hope you took my suggestion for paper plates and cups to eliminate all the dishwashing while your dishwasher is on the fritz.

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    1. Weather crazy here too…near 100 several days, today on the beach I had to have a sweatshirt over my summer top to stay warm. Heat forecasted to return next week.

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  14. What fun!! Love your photos – you must never have the camera out of your hands, lol!! Love the group hug especially!! What a jolly bunch you are!! I have a silly little question about your fireworks. How long does your fireworks show usually last? I ask because my neighbourhood just did their show Sunday night (was postponed from July 1st – Canada Day – because it was scorching hot, around 94F), and it only lasted around 12 minutes! Boo hiss! I thought they could’ve done better! 😉

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    1. Our neighbors who have fireworks set them off for themselves. The first year we were here, the show was marvelous. The second year was a bust — no fireworks. Last year was good. This year they outdid themselves with about two hours of boom-booms. We were impressed and very thankful for entertainment for our guests.

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