Thirty four years after graduating from a small town high school that bore an achingly uncanny resemblance to the script from the film "Dazed and confused", I drove the two lane road for two hours to have lunch with my two high school friends. One who I haven't seen since a funeral for a friend ten years ago. We met in a grocery store parking lot on an early spring morning. As I waited for the two of them to arrive, I thought about how I never would have imagined that we would still be in touch. Now at age fifty three,with gray roots and sagging thighs, I sat there eating an empanada from grocer and thought about how little effort I'd put into my appearance that morning. There was a time where I would have taken care to make my face up with more then a swipe of blush. I flipped down the visor mirror and stared at my face. I noted that it was not a good hair day and my eyes were shadowed with dark circles from lack of sleep. The blush looked like it was sitting on my sallow cheeks emphasizing the pale pallor. I gently rubbed it into the skin and applied a pink lipstick to balance it out. I put the half eaten empanada back in the plastic tray. I'm glad I still have friends who share history. Grateful to have an escape from my dailyness I wait for ten more minutes before seeing a waving hand from an SUV that was turning into the parking spot next to mine. I grabbed my purse and opened the back door to her car. Hi I said leaning into the front seat with half hugs. We exchanged pleasentries. My friend Dodi was seeing an old boyfriend who we all grew up with. After a volital divorce and financial problems, she was one step from living in her car. Her skin was mottled with white patches and her scoliosis had increased dramaticly pushing her head and shoulder together to the point of her ear almost touching the raised shoulder. She did not look healthy but her laugh was still endearing. Donnas hand was wrapped in an ace bandage from a recent carpal tunnel surgery that left her unable to use her fingers. She said she was still healing and aside from not being able to wash her hair or tie shoes, she was doing well. She was wearing furry Ugg slippers and elastic waist pants. Good, I thought, we were on level playing field.Somehow it bonded us together more easily. We ate lunch at a deli and walked in and out of stores all afternoon. The stores did not contain clothes, no surprise there. The craft stores and antique shops kept us interested. Two of us had daughter getting married which gave us something to look for. Decorations, trinkets and candy bars were the sum of our purchases. When they dropped me off at my car we hugged and promised to get together again. I know we all felt the grace of the easy conversations and the lack of need for lengthy explain actions.