Surprise Birthday Greeting

Birthdays are especially neat when you get greetings and good wishes from friends.
Myrna really made my day when I got her email with updates on her life and a brief walk down memory lane.

She found and then scanned an old photo of us, taken on one of our craziest weekends together ever!

It started when she phoned me at home, asking if I would be interested in going with her cousins and her for a weekend away in Pennsylvania. (I am not sure at this point that she told me the house didn’t have running water, no plumbing at all.) She called at an interesting time. I was particularly stressed; home, school, friends…all were presenting me with a great deal to think about. In spite of some obligations I had that weekend, I quickly decided a weekend away was exactly what I needed.

We ended up the tail end of a three car convoy, and I was swept away in the world of CB Radios, a lot of silliness with getting myself a “handle” –Spanish Fly — which her cousin quickly renamed Spanish Flea, so I renamed his Blue Streamer to Blue Streaker.

Arriving to the house which was almost near New York State, and nearing darkness, I was puzzled to see that the first thing her cousins did was get out the lawnmower to make a path. Fearing the worse, my voice cracked asking Myrna, “Why are they doing that?”

“Making a path to the outhouse of course.”

I was a afraid of that.  “Myrna, know this very minute, I do not plan to go ALONE, I will drag you with me every visit! How do we take our showers here?”

She pointed to a river. “There.”

Now, it was spring, but I knew the mountains of Pennsylvania, the water was going to feel very much like WINTER.

So the weekend went.

I talked the fellows into taking us to the movies, picking one I knew I wouldn’t be allowed to see (Saturday Night Fever) if I were at home (naughty girl!) – mom had some very strict ideas about movies. They told us of the frequent bear attacks in the area, and then proceeded to scare us girls all night by making growling sounds outside our window. The next morning had Myrna and I in the freezing river, a very different way to wake up!
However, it was fun! Later, I cut everyone’s hair outside, and that was in itself, a crazy time for all. A call came the next day which made me cut the weekend short. Mom told me Petra was in from Holland, a total surprise, and all I wanted in the whole world was to blink and be back home to see her.

We packed up, and I looked at Myrna and said, “Better let me drive.” I was in a hurry.

Myrna fell asleep (probably in self defense) and I took all I learned on the trip up with the CB radios and how to avoid the Police and their speed traps, and did 90 miles an hour home to see Petra! I never did anything like that before, nor ever again, but I just had to see Petra before she had to leave.

Outhouses, bears, bathing in rivers, and all combined, it was a memorable and crazy weekend, spent with a great friend, who I have known since the cradle!

Thanks for the birthday present, my dear friend Myrna.