Fifty Years and the Meter is Running

In 1960, back when life was pretty simple or at least I thought it was, I started the first grade at Clara Barton Elementary school in Fargo ND. My teacher was Mrs. McLaren, a petite, gentle matron who commandeered her young students with a kind, firm hand. Up against Miss Bettschen, the other first grade teacher, I thought she was an angel. I was afraid of Miss Bettschen when we would file off to her room for music. I liked Mrs McLaren.

Back in those glorious days, school didn't convene until AFTER Labor Day, August was dedicated to summer, not classroom business for heaven's sake. After all, Fargo was a live-at-lake-in-the-summer town. School couldn't possibly start until the Tuesday after the first Monday in September. Otherwise who would be there?

And so it was, after the world returned to the city, I started the first grade and embarked upon a friendship, a friendship that would take me through the years of my life - my life so far that is. A best friend forever, as my girls say now, a BFF or a bestie! That would be Susan.



The year 2010 heralds the 50th year of our friendship; well deserving of a celebratory convocation. We did meet in Las Vegas in January to see Bette Midler, but didn't have our golden ducks in a row to lay claim to this fete. It was only after squawking to Ron about some unremarkable topic that I said, "Ya know, Susan and I have been friends for about fifty years." did I get to ciphering. Gosh, this is fifty years, at least after Labor Day.

My earliest memory of Susan was when she came over to my house to teach me how to spell Elizabeth, her first name and my middle. She went by Elizabeth in school so she had to learn how to spell it before I did. I went by Mary or Mary Liz. It was high time I learned to spell that long name. Susan thought my last name was Elizabeth so she would call our house and say, "Hello, Mrs. Elizabeth may I please to speak to Mary?" From then on the the meter was running.

I really wanted to get together before this year was over, go the extra mile signaling this milestone. Phoenix wasn't in my foreseeable future, at least not until after Christmas, so I had to act fast. And guess what?? Susan just happened to be at the lake for the waning days of summer and to close up the cottage before she went back to Phoenix to cook, bake and broil.

Plan A initiated. It worked out to the letter.



Ron and I flew down to the lake for lunch and a little Susan time. From Velva, Lake Melissa is a good 4.5 hour drive, given the season of construction and Labor Day traffic, air travel just seemed the way to go (once again ML bit the little plane bullet). The weather cooperated and we were home before dark. It was a nice day for the memory book.

We took in the Flea Market as we both love the old and interesting. I bought a LAKEGIRL sweatshirt (a had to have!!) and she bought some Halloween decor (her friend Lynn told her NO MORE boiled wool knitted candy corn for Halloween!! It was time for her to rethink her ornamental strategy). Rather reserved purchases considering there was a tremendous boatload of stuff. One end table did catch my eye but I knew I couldn't smuggle it in the back seat of the plane without a detailed answer. "What the hell are you going to do with that? Jeez, don't you have enough junk?" It wasn't worth the drama.



Lunch was at the Shoreham Hotel. Note: the poor centering of this photo is only to include the established 1910 portion of another Hotel Shoreham sign. The Hotel is a funky place and known to really rock, especially on Thursday nights when Karaoke cranks up the crowd. Gosh, 1910 makes the Hotel 100 years old. Good thing I had two beers with my lunch, one for Susan and me, and one for the Hotel. If someone in the joint would have had a birthday I'd have probably had three!

Shoreham is a little hamlet located between Lake Melissa and Lake Sallie. The Hotel, The Pegary (LAKEGIRL fame) and Shoreham Chapel comprise this widening of the road. When I would stay with Susan as a kid there was also store where we would go to buy comic books and candy. You could buy candy cigarettes there too, which weren't available in clean cut ND.

My Dad remembered going to Shoreham and the Hotel when he was a kid and teenager, as the Snyder cottage was on Detroit, just down the road a piece. At one time there were ferry rides that boarded at the Hotel located on the channel between the two lakes. Old photos show women draped in long white dresses and tabletop sized hats to make the cruise. Google gave me no information as to where the hostelry factor comes in. My guess, at one time there must have been little cabins to stay in. Had I reread the walls of the hotel I probably could have answered those questions, as many news clippings and photos decorate the interior.

We then made a sojourn to the cottage. Susan's brother Tim and her sister Judy joined us in the merriment. Oh yes, and Lucky, Susan's dog. We reminisced, laughed and caught up on family and people. My brother Tom went to school with Tim and Judy was the trailer, three year behind. We all knew the same names, places and events, each with our own slant.




It was a short visit but a sweet visit. I always love time with Susan and her family. Ron did very well, he trailed along like he was supposed to do. He knew what this visit meant to me so he remained in check. Thanks sweetheart, you are the greatest!!

So fifty years have come and gone. Changes, changes and more changes. Miss Bettschen and Mrs. McLaren are long gone, so is Mrs. Elizabeth. Susan, you and I will probably face twice as many changes in the next fifty as we did in the first. What took five years then now takes five months. I couldn't ask for a better friend to grow old with. All the laughing we do when we are together will keep us young. Remember NO BOWING OUT EARLY; I bought at the fiftieth, you have to get the check at the hundredth. And we'll then have three beers!