Where do the years go?

One of my girlfriends, that has been a friend for over 35 years, come up to spend the night and go to the lake with me today. It was fun catching up, as we rarely talk on the phone more than a couple times a year. But many years ago, when we were both very young and single, we developed a tradition of going to the lake at least once a year. When we first started going we had our bottle of wine and some towels, maybe a sandwich, and headed for the beaches you have to hike down from the road to access.

Over the years that changed to the crowded Sand Harbor beach with very soft sand that our children played in with their buckets and shovels. It has an area that is protected and shallow - which makes it warmer than the lake and ideal for little swimmers.

A few years ago my daughters and her daughter quit going with us, opting to go to the lake with their friends (to the beaches you hike down to access.)

This year our day was spent on the West end of the lake at a park that was an old mansion and playground for the rich and famous during the days of the Comstock and timber barrons out of San Francisco.

You can tour the mansion and the grounds and/or sit under some lovely trees on rolling green grass the extends down to the beach and water:

We sat mostly under the trees, as tanning is not something either of us does anymore, sans the bottle of wine. Wine? In the middle of the day at the beach? Ummm who's DD? We didn't swim much, something that we have always enjoyed doing together. But we talked and enjoyed the view, and the companionship that comes from years of knowing one another. We caught up on what our children were doing, how their lives have turned out so far, what they aspire to in the future.

We realized that time has marched right along. Our children are now in charge of their lives, making their own decisions, creating their worlds. Ours has changed. We are slowing down, enjoying the little things, the small moments. Our bodies have changed, our hair, wrinkles have appeared. But we are still the same in so many ways. All the little ways that attracted us to each other all those years ago. We may think differently, but we respect each other. We know each other's tender places, because we were there when they were experienced. The scars that are healed now, but were once so raw.

And we wonder - what is in store for us now? How many more years will we come to the lake for our day?