l-r Deke, me, Linda, Barney
This past Monday, Deke emailed me to keep Friday evening open because he was taking me somewhere special for our Friday night date. No explanations. No hints. Nothing.
We both had a hectic Friday but I managed to get to the church by 3:30, and with only a couple of hitches with last minute administrative duties, we were on our way. We wound our way south/west out of Lafayette and saw country that neither of us had ever seen. The boy kept true to his word and uttered not a syllable to help me figure out our destination.
After 2 hours of flitting here and there on back country roads, we turned into "The Beef House," a rather famous eatery near Covington, IN. We had never been there so this was going to be a new culinary experience for the two of us.
We got out of the car and walked toward the front door. A rather distinguished man with graying hair was standing just inside, and as we approached, he opened the door and greeted us. I thought My this place is so friendly; the owner even greets the diners. When he ended his monologue by asking for a tip, I turned to really look at him and about fell over when I recognized Deke's old college roommate, Barney! The neatest thing about seeing Barney again was the realization that I was also to see his wife, my college roommate! Yep, 39 and 40 years ago, we had married our roommates' roommate! After hugging and trying to close my real-for-life gaping mouth, Linda appeared and we got to hug all over again.
We were seated in a rather remote section of the restaurant and proceeded to talk non-stop for 3 hours (the waitresses set us up in a private area after the first 2 hours). It really was as if we had never been apart. Linda and Barney (real name is Don Knotts) live in Sullivan, about 2 hours further south in IN. We hadn't seen them in at least 25 years. AND the downside of this whole wonderful reunion was that I didn't get a picture of the 4 of us!!! We were so intent on talking and laughing and catching up on our lives that I didn't get around to taking a picture even though I had my digital in my purse. Sad. Anyway, this is a scanned picture of us in 1969, taken in the guys' dump (apartment) on the night we had "foraged" a pitiful Christmas tree from the side of some country road. Ahhhh, memories.
We both had a hectic Friday but I managed to get to the church by 3:30, and with only a couple of hitches with last minute administrative duties, we were on our way. We wound our way south/west out of Lafayette and saw country that neither of us had ever seen. The boy kept true to his word and uttered not a syllable to help me figure out our destination.
After 2 hours of flitting here and there on back country roads, we turned into "The Beef House," a rather famous eatery near Covington, IN. We had never been there so this was going to be a new culinary experience for the two of us.
We got out of the car and walked toward the front door. A rather distinguished man with graying hair was standing just inside, and as we approached, he opened the door and greeted us. I thought My this place is so friendly; the owner even greets the diners. When he ended his monologue by asking for a tip, I turned to really look at him and about fell over when I recognized Deke's old college roommate, Barney! The neatest thing about seeing Barney again was the realization that I was also to see his wife, my college roommate! Yep, 39 and 40 years ago, we had married our roommates' roommate! After hugging and trying to close my real-for-life gaping mouth, Linda appeared and we got to hug all over again.
We were seated in a rather remote section of the restaurant and proceeded to talk non-stop for 3 hours (the waitresses set us up in a private area after the first 2 hours). It really was as if we had never been apart. Linda and Barney (real name is Don Knotts) live in Sullivan, about 2 hours further south in IN. We hadn't seen them in at least 25 years. AND the downside of this whole wonderful reunion was that I didn't get a picture of the 4 of us!!! We were so intent on talking and laughing and catching up on our lives that I didn't get around to taking a picture even though I had my digital in my purse. Sad. Anyway, this is a scanned picture of us in 1969, taken in the guys' dump (apartment) on the night we had "foraged" a pitiful Christmas tree from the side of some country road. Ahhhh, memories.
3 comments:
Amazing! What a fun night for you guys. You should do it again - maybe before another 25-year stretch.
How wonderful! That Deke is FULL of surprises. Y'all haven't changed a bit. 'o'
Cool!
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