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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Weekend in Valpo!

This past weekend was the 2nd Annual Valparaiso Book Club Road Trip! Sarah, Joyce, Karen and I trekked from northern Illinois to Valpo, Indiana to visit with Karen's parents (Karen's mom Gloria is pictured left and looking very lovely in green ;), to go pottery shopping at a favorite spot, and to join Gloria's wonderful book club. This year, they graciously read and discussed Friday Mornings at Nine...and even held their gathering at a local coffee shop! Below are a few more photos (and I made sure to get a close-up of the delicious pastries). Ladies, many thanks to ALL of you for such a fun weekend!!












In other news, I was up until after 2am last night trying to satisfy my seemingly insatiable desire to Facebook surf. The urge was quite accidentally triggered. The name of an FB pal and book reviewer I like popped up when I was visiting the fan page of one of my former universities. I had no idea we'd gone to the same college until then, so I checked out the other people who'd "liked" the page and scanned through my friend's site, too, to see if she and I had any mutual acquaintances. What I found stunned me.

Turns out my friend is also FB friends with someone I'd long ago dated and had no idea what happened to in the past 20-something years. I'd never thought to look him up on Facebook (and, no, I'm not going to friend him now...I don't need to behave like my characters ;), but I was glad I came across his page, however unintentionally. It was -- in his case -- a bit like an unsolved mystery for me. I had no idea where he lived now or what he was doing, and even though we aren't official FB friends (and I don't need us to be -- LOL), I could glean enough to know that he was doing all right. And I was happy to see that.

He's someone I remember spending a very memorable college Thanksgiving meal sitting next to and bickering with (as was our habit) for about 2 hours. We argued a lot in general, but that night it was all about what attitude we should to take toward the holiday. The history of Thanksgiving isn't unflawed, but I do think nothing beats getting to take a day once per year and give thanks for the blessings of friends and family. I am so grateful for all of you. Thanks for visiting me here and for being a part of my online (and sometimes offline) life.

Happy Thanksgiving on Thursday to all who celebrate it and, to everyone, everywhere, best wishes for a wonderful week!

13 comments:

Caryn Caldwell said...

Ooh, Facebook can be so addictive, can't it? That's so cool that you found your old boyfriend. I've thought about doing that, but am not sure I'm up for it. They're part of my past, and there's a reason for that, after all. I do wish I could see more about them without having to friend them, though. Because I may not be ready to friend them, but that doesn't mean I'm not nosy!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Marilyn Brant said...

LOL, Caryn -- thanks! I'm definitely nosy when it comes to people from my past (although I try to spin it as "curiosity" whenever possible :). He wasn't an easy person to locate, but he was an emotionally easy person to read about, since I'd gotten closure on the relationship way back then. I can't always say that, though, so there are people I've avoided looking up, too...

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! ;)

Pamala Knight said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours Marilyn! I'm glad your visit to Valpo was lovely.

Facebook can be very addictive and I'm always amazed at the wonderful things people do with their pages.

Edie Ramer said...

How funny that you found your old boyfriend's FB page. The only old boyfriend I'd be interested in looking up has a very common name. (Like you, it would be out of curiosity and I wouldn't want to friend him.)

Have a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Judy Croome | @judy_croome said...

Pastries look absolutely yum! I'm just going to have to reschedule my new diet until *after* I've found the local equivalent!! :)

Your FB browsing adventure often happens to me - I see someone who knew someone who knew...and three hours later I'm still clicking on friends of friends of friends!! But it is a nice way to revisit the past!!

Hope "Friday Mornings" is rushing up the sales lists!!
Judy(South Africa)

Pamela Cayne said...

I believe I remember the pottery trip from last year because I remember being this jealous! (I love pottery!)

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, Marilyn!

Brett said...

It sure is fun to see where the FB trails lead when we start to peruse friends of friends. And there's nothing wrong with a little innocent curiosity. ;) Happy Thanksgiving, Marilyn!

Marilyn Brant said...

Pamala, FB is definitely addictive... I thought, after those first few weeks of learning how to use it, it would no longer be such a time suck. Turns out, I was wrong on that ;).

Edie, yeah, it's those ones with the common names that can have you really wondering: Is that him? The guy in Maine? Or the one New Mexico? Or one of the three in Illinois?? It makes for all kinds of interesting scenarios about what that person might have done with his life...LOL.

Judy, thank you for the good sales wishes!! And I agree about how visiting friends of friends' pages is like revisiting the past. My late-night reading had me thinking about my college years in a very nostalgic way this week. I still can't figure out if I feel older or younger as a result, though ;).

Marilyn Brant said...

Pamela~you would *love* this pottery place! If you find yourself in northern Indiana sometime, I will give you the address -- and probably force you to take me with you! I have to limit myself to 2-3 pieces per trip because, if I didn't, I'd bring home stacks of it ;).

Brett~times spent with you and the dance group are some of my happiest college memories... I'm so glad I don't have to wonder idly what you might be doing now, I can just bombard you with emails and ask you my thousands of questions ;). That you put up with me doing that is the real wonder! xo

Happy Thanksgiving, All!!!

Robin said...

Happy Thanksgiving, Marilyn! I hope the day brings you and your family a great deal of joy!

Count me in as one of those who would love be anonymously nosy too!

Marilyn Brant said...

Robin, we "anonymously nosy" folk ought to start a cyber club ;). Wishing you and your family a fun-filled and, hopefully, relaxing Thanksgiving!!

Maria Geraci said...

Your book club excursion sounds lovely. As for the Facebook thing, yes, I was afraid you were going all Jennifer on us, LOL! Happy Thanksgiving!

Marilyn Brant said...

LOL, Maria!! No, Jennifer has far more techie skill than I do... Hope you had a *wonderful* Thanksgiving! ;)