This past weekend, I partook in some great fun.  That would be the Girls’ Reunion Weekend with six of my closest college friends.  And.  I felt like our entire weekend was one big SNL skit.  Saturday Night Live might be calling us because when we all get together…we are FUNNY.  Gut busting funny.  Pee your pants funny.  Laugh until you cry funny.  Yes.  That’s what it’s like when we have our Girls’ Reunion Weekend.

Seriously folks.  Listen.  When you get seven of us friends together who all met back as young freshmen at Central College in the fall of 1991, there is bound to be some guts a bustin’.  All weekend long, we laugh, joke, laugh, talk, laugh, and laugh some more.  It is just so awesome.

For quite a few years, we have met at Riverside Casino and Golf Resort.  Because we gamble?  No.  Because we golf?  No.  We picked Riverside because it’s centrally located for us and it has a spa and some amazing rooms.  (The Grand Master Suite with a few adjoining rooms is where we stay.  Generally, we spend so much time in the suite that it becomes like a second home to us for that weekend.)

Some years, we have eight of us.  Earlier years, we even had nine of us getting together.  But this year, there were seven of us.  First, you’ve got Michelle or Homan, as we call her, coming from Indiana.  Jenna is coming up from Olathe, Kansas.  Shirley, or Garlow as we called her back in the days at Central, travels down from Chicago.  Glenda comes from Nebraska.  Foxy (Heather) drives over from Ames and George (Andi) travels over from Johnston, Iowa.  Then.  There’s me.  I travel about 28 minutes.  I know.  It’s so long.  (I usually have to stop about two or three times to stretch my legs.)  (Oh, I kid.)

Actually, this year, there were five of us.  (Two weren’t able to make it:  George had other obligations and Glenda had a sick child.)  By 5:30 Friday evening, the five of us had arrived and the Grand Master Suite was filled with laughter and jokes and stories from long ago.

And in typical reunion manner, we stayed up late talking and laughing.  At one point, in the midst of all of our chatter, I got out a little notebook and made a T-chart.  It was a list of Acceptable and Unacceptable Topics that could be discussed.

What topics are unacceptable to discuss at a girls’ reunion weekend?  Well.  Any Lisa Ling “Our America” specials.  Because evidently, when Jenna and Foxy were carpooling to Riverside from Des Moines, Foxy felt the need to bring up depressing topics from an episode that she had watched.  Waaaa.  Waaaa.

Other unacceptable topics?  With Homie expecting their fifth child, she did not need any help with baby names so we were not to discourage any possible baby name she threw out as an option.  And, I put this on the unacceptable side of the chart:  No More Judging Other’s Ketchup Habits.  Okay, so maybe I had a problem with ketchup in college and would specifically ask for 8 or 13 packets of ketchup when going through the Hardee’s drive-thru.  So, judging ketchup habits…completely unacceptable.  Then, you have your ‘killing innocent animals’ as an unacceptable topic.  Listen people.  If you had to hear Garlow talk about how Michael accidentally stepped on a baby kitten the first time he visited her farm back in college and then hear how she had to kill the poor flopping sweet little thing…well, you’d agree with us.  No more stories about killing innocent animals.

What topics are acceptable, you ask?  Well, there were a lot of topics still able to be discussed.  I’d share, but you can probably guess what many of our topics were.  Life.  Other stuff.  Family.  Other stuff.  Faith.  College stories.  Other stuff.  You get the picture.

At one point, we brought up how fun it’d be to have a movie based on our friendships.  I’ve said this before…to have a camera rolling at these girls’ weekends would be the best reality show EVER.  We all thought of funny actresses who’d be good at portraying each of us.  Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler, and Julie Bowen were mentioned.  Of course, one of the gals thought RuPaul would be great at acting out her.  Never a dull moment.  You can see…we have some sarcasm that just flows when we talk.

With all of that talking and laughing, we finally went to bed after 1:00 and of course, in pure college manner…we slept in like no other.  As in, didn’t get up until 10:30ish.

On Saturday morning, Garlow was so kind to fix us microwave eggs and bacon.  Because we are just that fancy.  (And because she forgot that the suite did NOT have an oven.  Or a stove top.)  Homan added fresh watermelon & peaches that she brought.  I added the classy Hostess powdered sugar donettes to the breakfast.  And Jenna went down to the front desk seeking salt, pepper, and creamer, but arrived back up with an additional bonus.  A yummy cinnamon roll that she so kindly cut into about eighteen pieces for all of us to share.

Our breakfast. It was better than Perkins…

Don’t be worried that there are hardly ANY eggs in the picture above.  Garlow made just enough for us.  Plus, we did have our fair share of snacks the night before.  Foxy brought pickle dip which was yummy.  AND.  If I hadn’t made about five dozen of no-bake cookies for us to enjoy, we wouldn’t have had any fiber in our diet.  I’m always thinking…

Our afternoon was spent with some taking a walk, some taking a bath (just to clarify…by themselves, of course), and some soaking up some sunshine by the pool.

Then, we all got George’s text.  She was feeling blue about not being at the girls’ weekend, especially since her son’s game got rained out.  These are the next few texts that followed.  (Might I remind you.  George is in Johnston, Iowa.  Glenda is back in Elkhorn, Nebraska with her ill child.)

WHAT??!!  A picture of Glenda and George TOGETHER!!?  Those two whooo-haaas friends had rearranged plans (along with Glenda’s child feeling better) and were on their way to Riverside!!!!  LOVE them.

And this was the pic Homie and I sent back to Glenda and George.

Double thumbs up.  For sure.

So, by 3:30, there were seven of us laughing it up and telling stories from college in the Grand Master Suite.  It was beautiful.  It’s like they brought a second-wind with them.  We all were re-charged and ready for night #2.

Saturday evening, we drove to Iowa City.  Of course, we had time for a selfie.

Jenna, Garlow, and I

Once in Iowa City, we went to the Ped Mall to Givanni’s for appetizers, drinks, and a nice supper.

Then, at the very last minute, we drove over to the theater and watched Melissa McCarthy’s new movie, “Tammy”.  Which was pretty funny.  Especially sitting in a row with six of your closest friends.

After reverting back to college days with a late night Hy-Vee run for some beverages and snacks, we went back to Riverside and ended the evening hanging out with drinks, snacks, and more than our fair share of laughter.

Sunday, we got up and again…sat around talking and laughing and sharing stories.  That kind of stuff never gets old.  Seriously.

We all left around noonish and headed back to our families with a few more laugh lines and fuller hearts.  These friends have been dear to me for over twenty-two years.  I’m so grateful that we continue to put our Girls’ Reunion Weekend a priority.  These peeps have known me for a long time and through it all, we still love each other like no other.  Unless one of us gets out of line.  Then, that person may get slapped.  Not really, but it’d make a good Saturday Night Live skit.