Why would I travel five hours just to have lunch with ten of my High School girlfriends, which I did this past Wednesday?

Not often in life do we get the opportunity to REALLY bond with other women; it usually happens when we spend time together, have shared experiences, and things in common; experience a few "aha's" together, supporte each other; laugh and cry together, and overall....achieve some remarkable passages of life together.

I have been blessed in life with wonderful girlfriends who did all of these things with me at one time or another. But, there is one group of girlfriends who did all of these things as a group, and these are the twenty-four girls I went to Summit Country Day High School with (Cincinnati)....at that time, an all girl's Catholic school. And when I walked into my classmate, Carol Manley's house last Wednesday for lunch, I felt like I had come home. No one knows me like these girls know me, and no matter what girlfriends I've had along the way, these are the girls who know me best.

These are the girls I slumber-partied with; got into H.S. trouble with; studied for latin exams with; talked about first boyfriends with; drove around with after getting my driver's license; got my class ring with; belonged to a High School sorority with; laughed, cried & agonized with, and finally graduated from High School with. More importantly, these are the girls I shared my deepest values with; girls who, like me, were shaped and formed by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and who were given an extrodinary education under the same roof. This was the setting that bonded us, and though we are an ecclectic group of women with multiple interests and talents, we are also one family together. I am so glad to be back in their midst. Five hours seemed short in comparison to the time I was able to spend with them.

I have lost two very special girlfriends in my life and the loss runs deep in me. I am reminded to hold on to what is important, rare and precious in my life. One of these is the Summit Class of 1958.