I don’t really remember this. I was 24 at the time. I wonder if there was similar 40 is ___ . These ladies – and two others – were high school friends who have stayed in touch across the years. Their long and winding roads cross routinely by design. It is a lovely thing. One of their posse, the “other” Nancy – Wiley – has recently passed away. I talked with the Nancy I knew – Gates – for a short time about this. Nancy was her usual graceful and loving and thoughtful self. She was using me as a proxy to get the message to Joan. Fills me with remorse. I could be a better proxy.
Joan, Mary, Nancy, and Dorothy - The North High Posse
Nancy and Dorothy were fixtures in my life as a kid – pretty amazing in that we lived nowhere near one another. Vacations involved visits. Visits were intense – homes of host family thrown open to visitors – Kids intermingled and encouraged to find ways to get along. I think it’s fair to say that Nancy and Dorothy were extra mothers. Mary was not as familiar, although she was a tight part of the posse. I guess maybe we never had a visit with Mary, or fewer visits?
The husbands of the posse were all special guys. All really, really different men. I wonder if they were friends. The women were so tight. The men came along for the ride. Does it work that tight bonds in friends might also find a grip in the relationships between their significant others?
