Lunch with old Friends [My Coming Out Party]

Sometime last April, I got an e-mail from an old friend whom I hadn't heard from in years. We arranged to go to brunch along with another friend whom we each hadn't heard from in a very long time. They drove down together from Bellevue/Mercer Island and we met at at Elmer's for brunch, a nearby (to me) restaurant and it was close to the freeway exit for them.

Terry and I were the two best piano players when we were at Holy Names Academy together. In high school we each played a two-part Mozart concerto together. We would come out to the stage and take our bows, then either she or I would sit at the grand piano on stage, and the other would go to the other at the foot of the stage to accompany. Then we would go up for our bows, and switch pianos, then play the second concerto.

Somehow the three of us ran into each other at the UW, and we stayed together for at least two years, until our coursework started to interfere. There were others who joined our little clique as time marched on, but we are no longer in touch.

Terry got married and you know how that goes. We lost touch. Kanako and I spent a lot of time hanging out together the Summer after graduation. It was also the Summer her father died in a tragic fishing accident.  I was also a bridesmaid at her wedding.

Here is a picture of the three of us:

On the left we have Terry who has two grown boys, is now divorced, and lives on the tenth floor of a condo in downtown Bellevue. She teaches piano from her home.

On the right is Kanako who also has two grown boys, is married to a soon-to-be retired professor at the UW. She now teaches ESL from her home on Mercer Island (after being an elementary school teacher for years).

 And then there's me in the middle.

Oh, and FWIW, Kanako would have white hair if it wasn't for  a bottle of shoe polish! LOL   Terry has a spot of white on the back off her head, and my grey is coming in like highlights.

Good Night, TTYL, and Be Well,

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