40 Years Plus . . . Friends Forever

I had a lunch date planned with a group of dear old friends. We get together about once a month and enjoy good food and better than good fellowship and conversation. This month's lunch date was planned for the Olive Garden. And oh boy oh boy, was our timing right: they are currently offering that amazing buy-one-take-one deal that has been so popular among the Olive Garden faithful.

Last week, once we'd set a date for our lunch, I was watching Perry Mason with my husband at night. I observed that I'm coming up on a 40-year anniversary, for it was in April and May of 1985 that I was a student at Penn State, trying to work out a summer internship with a history magazine in Harrisburg (big sister Barb, being ever hopeful that I'd end up somewhere close to HER). 

That opportunity fell through, but through some interesting quirks of this-person-knew-that-person, I accepted a summer work/study position with Penn State's Department of Distance Education instead (they're now known as the World Campus). It would begin the Tuesday after the Memorial Day holiday in 1985. And that, as they say, was that!

There, I would meet all kinds of wonderful people, including the ladies I lunch with now. My work/study position eventually turned into a wage/payroll position, and I stayed on after summer's end, working part-time throughout my senior year of college, and beyond. I resolved to do anything I could do to make myself useful so they would keep me on.

One of those ladies - Judy - would eventually hire me to my first full-time position at Penn State! We all became co-workers and fast friends; and then life-long friends, keeping in touch and getting together, even after all of us retired. My own Penn State journey ended (officially, at least) in December 2020, but the friendships continue on.

Anyway, I digress some, but I want you to understand the significance of all of this. Add to that the fact that some members of our group have gone through some really hard times in the past year, including the unexpected passing of my one friend's husband while on safari in Africa last spring. I thought we all needed something to make us smile.

What I said to my husband was: I think my friends and I need to celebrate . . . with CAKE!!! I got online and began to look at Penn State Bakery cakes. By the end of the evening, both he and I had backed off, and agreed that it was a silly idea. I was going to do the buy-one-take-one. I'd have WAY more food than I could eat. What the heck would we do with CAKE?

The next morning, I woke up, and it was a bright and sunny day. A little bird was singing outside my window. I listened carefully. "Tweedle-deedle-dee!" cried the little bird, and then it said something strange. I listened closer. What? The little bird said: "BUY THE DAMN CAKE!"

So as soon as Olive Garden opened that day, I called them, and asked to speak to a manager. I explained that I had a lunch date and it was a special occasion. (Aren't they ALL?) I told her I wanted to bring a cake from an outside bakery. Was that okay? She responded with enthusiasm: Yes, it was perfectly okay, and they could even take it and keep it refrigerated for me, or hidden, until it was serving time, and time for the big surprise!

Woo-hoo! So I got online and I ordered us a cake: white cake with white icing. Here is what it says: 40 years plus . . . friends forever. Of course, I am not so great at keeping secrets, so the evening before our lunch date, I sent my friends an email: I would be bringing a special treat along to lunch, but I did not disclose WHAT.

The Bakery sent me a confirmation email the morning of the cake and lunch date. I had asked for 11 a.m. pick-up, but they said I could pick it up anytime. So before he dropped me off at the Olive Garden to eat out and go run some errands by himself, my husband and I went to the Bakery, which is next to the Arboretum, and picked up the cake that you may see above. (Amusing clandestine PSU Bakery logistics are described here; it's sort of like Penn State's own little speakeasy, but hawking SUGAR instead of booze.)

What can I say? My friends and I had a wonderful lunch. Two of us did the buy-one-take-one. I had the fettuccine alfredo, which is a personal fave. (Copycat recipe: here.) We all enjoyed salad and those amazing garlic breadsticks. And we all had cake for there, and/or cake for later. The waitress brought everyone to-go containers so they could take extra cake along home. Her name was Joy. I am NOT making this up!

We even said, "Oh My God, CAKE!" in a big, excited tone of voice, like Celia would have done (Celia's in North Carolina now, and - sadly - too far away for cake), and like Ellen would have said later, to make fun of Celia. :-)

And another friend in our little group had bought a cake for a different event the day before; Cindy ALSO brought leftover cake. So you could say we were well endowed with cake! Our conversation - fueled by pasta and quite possibly too much cake - wandered far and wide. 

We remembered other friends who have passed of late, including Eleanor, who was Cindy's office-mate. Eleanor has been gone almost a year now but we remember her fondly. (By the way, you may see some of my friends and myself, dressed up as the characters from the Wizard of Oz, in this prior Blip. I myself got to play Dorothy, she of the Ruby Slippers!)

My meal was delicious. The first entree I got (the buy one) was huge, and I only was able to eat about half of it. So I put half in a container for later. The second entree (the take one) was also huge. And I have to admit that I got into the fettuccine again late at night, only to find the second even more delectable than the first. (Insert happy moaning sounds here.) A person like me will likely get FOUR meals out of my buy-one-take-one; that's a square deal.

To sum up, I am grateful for my friends, who are so dear to me. It has been one of the great blessings of my life to have such loyal and true friends for so long. It was a pleasure for us to be together again, and I was happy to make them smile. 

I gave each friend a big hug and a kiss as we left, and told them I love them, as I so often do. "Thank you for picking me," I said to Judy. Somehow, we all picked each other. This day will be a sweet memory I carry in my heart, along with their friendship, forever. 

Oh, and yeah, there's plenty of leftover CAKE!

My soundtrack song is for my friends: Donna Lewis, with I Love You Always Forever.