Pearls of Wisdom

Five years ago, six friends from the class of '78 gathered for a little reunion to celebrate the year of our 50th birthdays. It took five posts to document all the fun we had back then. (Here, here, here, here, and here, in case you are interested.)

That first year, I had necklaces for all of us with a tag that says 'Celebrate' along with a small disc with '50' on it. When I ordered them from my (now) friend Laura, on Etsy, she suggested we also add a pearl, as in 'pearls of wisdom.' We have added a pearl each year that we've met since then, along with special charms from Jan. We now call ourselves the 'Pearls', which is a better choice than 'POWs', which had some folks questioning exactly what we were doing on our little outings. :)

Laughing mostly. That's what we were doing. And talking. And laughing. And talking some more. So much fun to catch up and reminisce with friends we have known for practically forever. That's a long time.

Everyone brought a little trinket to share… a wine stopper from Mary, Sun Valley Mustard from Amy, a male drink marker and a magnet (not pictured) from Ann, a flip flop charm from Jan, sunglasses that I 'pearled', and an awesome tiara from Debbie (more on that later).

In case you are wondering what a 'male drink marker' is, Ann brought a six-pack of these guys, each with a name, and ready to hang on the edge of our drinks so we would know whose was whose. They brought a lot of fun to the party, and turned up in all sorts of interesting places. :)

After all had arrived on Saturday, we hopped aboard the pontoon for a little jaunt around the lake. Deb brought fancy gift bags on the boat which had real tiaras inside. So exciting! You see, the first time the Pearls gathered at Sweetwater, there was another group of ladies who motored past our dock wearing tiaras. What a great idea! Deb found them shortly thereafter, and has been waiting to present them to us so that we could make our way around the lake as the royalty we are. Ha!

We got a quick photo of each of us wearing our crowns.

Even the Captain Queen (who, by the way, successfully docked that big ol' boat two times without a touch).

And it is here that the story takes a bit of a sad twist. As we were approaching the south cove, navigating our way through the boats, and being enthusiastically greeted by the non-tiara-wearing boaters, Jan raised her hand to wave, and…knocked…her…tiara…into…the…water! Yes, sadly, it was tiara overboard! We were heartbroken, and we circled back to the spot, looked down into the 25-foot-deep water, and had a moment of silence for the lost crown. A tiara tragedy.

Of course, we have learned in our 55 years accumulating those pearls of wisdom, that a lost tiara is not, in fact, a tragedy. The treasure of friends, the time together, and the sharing of our stories is far more important than a sunken tiara, and of far greater value. (They weren't real diamonds, were they, Deb?)

Later that evening, we sat around the table with our crowns securely on our heads.

Our little drink marker guys even made some cameo appearances...

on the crowns...

on our (we all need them now) glasses...

and even in our card game. :)

We kayaked...

we laughed...

we talked...

we floated...

we laughed...

and talked some more.

Because laughing…

and talking...

with friends who have known you the longest…

and know you the best...

is good for the soul.

So thankful for my Pearls. Love you all!