Up to Ventura ...

So long as the memory of certain beloved friends

lives in my heart,

I shall say that life is good.

~Helen Keller

Back in March, my friend Carol came to town! Well, not to L.A. but to Ventura. We met in preschool and were in each others classes (and lives) almost every year of primary school, then went to Junior High and High School together.

She moved away during college and never moved back! She lives in Washington State, which is beautiful of course, but we miss her in Southern California! I hadn't seen her for 13 years.

A group of us made a plan to meet on the pier, in Ventura. The site of many a memory!

Other than a few months after living in Thailand, in 1988, I haven't lived in Ventura either since High School. 

Anyway, a lot of music sends me into full sense memory mode, back to Ventura. This is  especially true of 80s music. I love the original Peter Gabriel version of this song, but I thought I'd share Sara's cover. :)

I headed North to Camarillo, to drive the rest of the way with Caroline. (Who I met in 4th grade!)

From her home in Camarillo ...

Ventura ...

The best mirror is an old friend.

~Peter Nivio Zarlenga

Be true to your work,

your word,

and your friends.

~Henry David Thoreau

Each friend represents a world in us,

a world not born until they arrive,

and it is only by this meeting 

that a new world is born.

~Anais Nin

Ah, how good it feels!

The hand of an old friend.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It's not Ventura that I ever miss and it hasn't felt like home in ... decades. But, what does feel like home, is being with old friends. (And these are some of the oldest! ;)

Hearing Carol's voice, it's hard to explain, but I know her voice as well as any family member or anyone I see in my current life. It sounds like memories and childhood, and high school and ... love. It was one of those moments where all the years disappear. The same old souls, just hanging out.

I love that.

Todd, Julie, Cassy, Danna, Caroline, Carol, Buckley, and me.

For more Ventura posts ... click  here   here   here and  here 

Actually there are more but ... ;)

Close friends are truly life's treasures.

Sometimes they know us better

than we know ourselves.

With gentle honest,

they are there to guide and support us,

to share our laughter and our tears.

Their presence reminds us that we are never really alone.

~Vincent van Gogh