(Disclaimer--didn't know how to get the photos in where I wanted them, so here they are at the top of the post. Sorry about that but, hey, this is pretty advanced for me!)
After much planning and e-mailing, Linda, Nancy, Wendy and Walter met in New York on July 28. We had a wonderful time, and I am so looking forward to catching up with the rest of the GVDers next summer, if not before--in Bristol, RI, Boston (only 60 miles away) or Naples, Florida. It was remarkable, but after 36 years with no contact, I felt completely at ease with Linda, Nancy and Walter, and we all seemed to feel we could talk about the good and the bad in the past. So, here's a blow-by-blow of the day, from my perspective. Walter has already posted a bit of info, and I'm sure Linda and Nancy will pipe in as well.
Nancy, Linda and I met at just after 1:00 at our hotel. I had run back upstairs because the doorman had assured me it was going to rain--but he was wrong, until we were on our way out of town--and so I came up unawares on the girls (yes, I guess that's the way I still think of us) as they were trying to find seats in the courtyard. We found a nice take-out deli where we piled up fresh salads for ourselves, then walked over to Central Park and found a comfortable seat on a bench in the shade and caught up on the last three and a half decades. Meagan and Peter, I'm sure your ears were burning, because we were talking about you.
We strolled on up to the Metropolitan Museum, on our way stopping at the Delacort Gate in the Zoo to see the animals dancing on the clock as it chimed 2:30. It occurred to me on the way that many of the kids from GVD are walkers--Linda, Nancy, Trish and I bet many of the others--and I can only guess that comes from all that walking we used to do all summer long. (Not to mention up to Giel's, whatever the season.) Of course we went in to the Met just to get something cool to drink--it was very hot in New York, and I even got a touch of sunburn--and e-mailed a photo to Meagan (see above, Linda and Nancy at the Met), who was wishing she could be with us. All of a sudden it was 4:30, and the cafeteria was closing around us, so back out on the streets and back to our respective hotel/apartment.
Dinner was next of the agenda, and that presented a bit more of a challenge, since spouses/significant others would be invited. Linda's husband Phil has met many of the gang over the years, and Walter's girlfriend Tania has been to Pittsburgh, I think. But Michael has had very little exposure to the GVD legends and mythology...plus, we were eating at a Middle Eastern restaurant. And here's the punch-line--we had a great time. The food was great, especially the bread and the baba ganoush (Meagan, what was the name of the restaurant in Pittsburgh--it wasn't Omar Kayyam's, was it?).
So poor Walter. First we quizzed him about his time in Israel, why his parents went, and why they returned to the U.S. I had always just assumed that Dr. Ruby was working on Israel's nuclear program, but Walter said it was a point of pride with his father that he had done only pure research, nothing applicable to weapons. Then we asked about Helga's escape from Germany and long journey to America. As I told Walter, I first heard parts of that story when I was four years old, and it has stayed with me my whole life. It is still a remarkable story, and he filled in some parts of it for me.
Walter was very intrigued by the successful Green Valley marriages, and Nancy explained how those relationships developed and flourished. There was lots of invoking of the Putze name, and lots of discussion about Bradys and Putzes, not to mention Ricky Richards, and who, exactly, on GVD would have spent a lot of time under the hood of the car. (I agree with Walter that that was probably the No. 1 area of interest for boys in Pittsburgh, but almost no one on the street engaged in that behavior--except Mr. Cummings, as we all agreed.)
We remembered the Kennedy assassination: Walter revived the memory for me of our idiotic principal, Mr Huber (that took a few minuted to rise to the surface), coming on the PA system and saying "This is the worst piece of news you will ever hear in your lives." Walter noted that his teacher, Mr. Bryson, thought that the announcement was going to be a nuclear attack. I recounted my mother's famous words--remember that Mrs. B. taught reading, and she had a break right before my reading class. She had been in the faculty lounge, had heard the news, and was late getting back to class. Naturally, we 7th graders were running around the room and acting up, and Mom burst into the room and said--as only she could--"Sit down and shut up, the President's been shot." Linda said her bus driver (the little kids had been sent home early) said exactly the same thing. Linda also remembered that she watched the Kennedy funeral over at the Rubys'.
At the other end of the table, Michael and Phil were having a great time. Not sure what they discussed all evening, though they dipped in and out of the conversation. (Michael was asking about the red pettipants story.) We have to have another meeting, because there are still topics we didn't get to...like Cuba. It turns out that Phil's mother is from Cuba, and my Mom lived in Cuba when she was a kid.
So, time for some pix. Walter sent one, and I've got some others. (They were supposed to go here. Ooops.)
I can't tell you how happy our time together made me. As some of you know, our Mom died in October and then Dad died two weeks ago, so this has been a sad year for us, and also a year with lots of memories. Although I will admit we discussed some of the bad memories as we strolled through the park, mostly we focused on the good times that we had, and that was a real balm to me. Hope it was as good for the others.
