Spaulding Scribbles: College Friend Reunion

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

College Friend Reunion

This past weekend I had the awesome opportunity to fly down to LA to see my dear college friends. A couple weeks ago I had talked to my close friend Lindsey who now lives in Boston. She told me she was going out to LA for a visit to see her family and our friends and encouraged me to come. At the time, airplane tickets cost over $300 so I didn't think I'd be able to swing it. Then I found out about all these great events that would be going on that weekend and realized that I needed to get down there. After lots of searching online, I realized there's a smaller airport called Ontario right by my friends Ali and Bryan's house. I had never even heard of the airport! I miraculously found a flight for $180 round trip! Ali and Bryan were gracious to let me stay with them. But I decided to make it a surprise for my other friends and especially Lindsey.

I arrived late on Friday night. On Saturday the major plan was for the Lockman family (Lindsey's family) and Ali and Bryan to host the annual Early Thanksgiving. This is a tradition we started in college when Lindsey and I lived together. Her parents would come down a couple weeks before Thanksgiving and make a big turkey meal for all of us starving college kids. It included all the fixins and we'd invite our friends over. It was always one of our favorite memories. The tradition has continued and I've only made it back to LA for one other Thanksgiving. So I was excited to be able to participate in one again. Lindsey and Sarah arrived around noon and it was really fun to surprise them! All afternoon other friends arrived and we all had a great time hanging out and cooking. The Lockman parents were amazing and treated us to a fabulous full-on Thanksgiving meal including turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie and fruit cobbler. I loved getting to catch up with everyone in person. Two of my friends, Jen and Ali have also had kids in the past couple of years who I've never gotten to meet so that was special finally getting to see their kids in person.

The other reason that made me feel I really needed to do this trip was that Lindsey is pregnant and we got to throw a baby shower for her on Sunday! It was fun to see her little baby bump and to hear all about her pregnancy so far. A few of our friends hosted the shower and I gotta say I have the most creative friends. The shower was at Jen's house in Malibu. It was really fun to drive up PCH again and see Pepperdine where I went to college and see the beach. Jen had decorated her house so cute with big tissue pom poms and everyone made great food. We even decorated little onesies. It was so great to share in Lindsey's special day and be with some of my closest friends. No matter how much time goes by or how much distance between us, it always feels like we haven't been apart. Thank you dear friends for a great weekend and I can't wait to see you again!