Life in the Sixties
The Thongs gathered at Beverly’s condo for the 2009 reunion. Attending this year were Faye, Dixie, Charlotte, Louise, Karen, Beverly, Gladys, and Tina. Early arrivals met at Pensacola and sat down to a southern lunch of fried green tomatoes on the porch of a restaurant called, “The Blue Dharma,” which was an old house painted pink. Somehow the logic seemed to fit our mood and our take on “life in the sixties” which kind of became a theme for the year.
Years before, Tina had given Beverly a book entitled, Fifty on Fifty, with the request that we write our “pithy” observations during the decade of our fifties. Such wisdoms as “The older you get, the harder it is to pretend you are having fun. P.S. when our group is together we ARE having fun!” (“Poopies” Lank ‘04) “Life is a series of fine lines that determine the picture you draw.” (Betty ’02) “One of life’s pleasures is to know that you’re never too old for a slumber party.” (Charlotte ’02). “Let’s take our break first.” (Tina 02) “Don’t worry about it . . . we’ve got all summer.” (Faye 01) “Do you remember when we were sand dollar millionaires?” (Louise ’01) “No husband bashing allowed. Tee Hee.” (Dixie ’01) “After 50 you really have to work at maintaining . . . I’m into aerobic floating myself.” (Tina ’01) “At 50, 40 will seem young, at 60, 50 will seem young, at 70, 60 will seem young, at 100 . . . . . let’s enjoy each age!” (Gladys) And last but not least, “If I have offended anyone, well. . . F*** you” (Linda).
We’ve filled that book and that decade with a lot of wisdom and living.
But the fifties are behind us, so Beverly brought out a blank scrapbook that was a Thong gift from a previous year. She asked Gladys, the artist in the group, to write the title, Sixty on Sixty, on its cover. Too much pressure—Gladys had to practice, so Beverly handed her a notepad of paper. Gladys would practice a sample, tear off that page, hand it to Beverly, and then write another. In dismay, Beverly watched as the discarded pages were mounting up in her lap and the remaining pages of the notepad were diminishing, until finally she cried, “waste not, want not!” and jerked the pad away from Gladys. She decided it would be more economical paper-wise to hold a contest to see who could write the best script. Much to Gladys’ relief, Charlotte won.
Charlotte also unintentionally supplied the basis for the first entry by telling about going to a movie with Dan, prompting Tina to write, “You know you are in your sixties when you use the term “afternoon delight” to describe a movie matinee.” Charlotte defended herself by insisting, “but it was a delight; we had wine and hors d’oeuvres, and sat on the back row!”
Louise left before she got to write in the book, but we all want her to write her parting advice that she received and has since lived by on becoming a widow: to “Have all the fun you can, and never turn down an invitation.” We think it may become our sixties mantra.
Even though Louise did not get to write in the sixties book, before she left she added one more entry in the fifties book to the “you know you are a PhD when . . .” entries. Which of course had a story behind it. Our first day at the beach we couldn’t get the sand-clogged pegs on the tent legs to work. Someone figured out a make-do solution, but Louise just wouldn’t give up. She commandeered a near-by twenty-five-year old with muscles. He turned out to like us so much that he retrieved his boom box and joined us under the tent, saying, “I’ve got some music you ladies will like.”
Then followed the usual get-to-know-you questions: where do you go to school, what is your major, why do you have FONTENOT tattooed on your arm? The answer to that was that he and his cousins all got drunk one night and had the family name tattooed on their arms. We could well believe the story because he had a beer in one hand, a drink and a cigarette lighter in the other, and at some point he asked, “Do any of you ladies have a cigarette lighter?” Louise had to point out the one he was holding already.
When Louise wrote the “You know you are a PhD when you have to get help to put up a beach tent” entry, Beverly responded, “Well, the help you got us was a baseball player majoring in kinesiology who at twenty five still hadn’t graduated from LSU-Eunice and had his own name tattooed on his arm! How smart do you think he was?”
Faye’s daughter, Molly, called while we were there and Faye told her we had picked up a twenty-five year old. Molly laughed and asked, “What are you going to do with him?” We weren’t sure, but we did send his picture to our absent comrades—Kathy, Betty, Suzanne, Margie, Evalyn, Linda, and Barbara– to see if they had any suggestions.
Family pictures went around the group because after all these years we feel as if we have a LARGE extended family. There were pictures of Molly’s wedding. They included her a lovely willowy wedding dress, wild flower bouquets, and a white canine boxer as one of the attendants. There was the old house Mitch had restored, which is how the couple met, and Faye and Jerry beaming their joy at the occasion. Dixie had photos of Patrick’s wedding with the young couple looking so, so handsome matching the grand setting of the hotel where the wedding took place.
There were pictures of Beverly’s grandchildren, Morgan, Madeline, and Noah, looking adorable and full of personality. Gladys brought pictures of her precious nieces and nephews and the three sets of twins. Lucky her to have such “an embarrassment of riches.” We are all envious. Charlotte had pictures of her family, which now includes Mack—a darling chunk of a boy, and Louise brought us up to date with beautiful pictures of Jill and Amy and Isabella and Christopher. Such riches!
Not only were pictures changing hands, but stories were flying as well. Gladys held us in rapt attention with tales of bats and other fascinating encounters, Louise told us how she had been asked to participate in a study of people’s accents–imagine that, Faye amused us with accounts of her brother and his three wives. . .and so on and so forth.
After it was over, Dixie wrote that she missed us all. Gladys’ reply was a good summary of the trip. She wrote, “I miss all of you, too! What richness to have so many friends gathered together!
“I discovered that I really like the beach! This lily white skin benefited from Beverly’s new cabana tent, which did a great job of letting in breezes while giving us a big patch of shade. People watching was fun, as we rediscovered the joys of having to do absolutely nothing! (i know that some of our reunions have been full of activity–and that’s also great. But this laziness was a treat. You couldn’t drag any of us away.)
“And then there were those late night rambles on the deserted beach. Moonlight, sucking waves, a great blue heron flapping in our faces, and even fireworks one night.
“I wondered how this reunion would compare to the last–since we had a lot fewer people this time. I think it was even better in some ways, because I got to spend more time with each person. At Dixie’s last year, I felt I was at a smorgasbord with delicious food spread before me but not enough time to taste everything! But this was really satisfying–with seconds and thirds and fourths of all my favorite things!
“I have to say that this group is endlessly fascinating to me. I learn something important every time we’re together. This trip I was thinking about how pieces of our lives are always changing–nothing is static. And I’m observing how all of you are addressing those changes, incorporating them, moving along. It’s damned impressive, girls! You are my role models!
“I’ve become very fond of Louise’s mantra. I think it could be our motto: “Have as much fun as you can. And never turn down an invitation!” Our mothers would approve.
Love to all, Gladys.”
And I echo that sentiment: “love to all, Tina.”
