Whenever I visit that city of my birth, I feel a resurgence of youth – and it happened again.
My memories of growing up on Long Island during the 1950s and 1960s are of a wonderful time of sunshine and fresh air, and the refreshing drinking water straight from the NYC taps. After moving farther out on the island to Nassau County, life was just as good – but not the water.
It was in the small, unincorporated village of Lakeview where, casually and unexpectedly, I fell in with a group of girls who became lifelong friends. There was no formal organization; the group simply grew – organically (to describe it in today’s words). Eventually eight of us walked to school together. As we passed a house or met by chance at the same intersection, one girl or another would join us, and soon we were regularly walking together. We were eventually labeled The Clique, and have been The Clique ever since.
Looking back, it is amazing how happenstance – or random (again, in today’s words) it all was. Or was it our destiny?
Looking back takes effort; we would need to rewind our lives to the days at Malverne High School’s graduation classes of 1963 and 1964. From there, we’d move on to days at colleges in Ohio, upstate New York, New York City, and on Long Island. The journey would then move to the days of our young ‘adult’ lives – marriage, moves, and creating families of our own. These were busy and productive years as we balanced families and marriages with our work – in offices and, for most of us, in schools from New York to New Jersey, the United States Virgin Islands, Nebraska, and Las Vegas, Nevada. During these years the thread of friendship often stretched thin but it never unraveled.
The internet, AOL, email, and text messaging brought us back together. So that now, instead of walking the path to school, we stroll through text messages and we meet on Zoom. The content of our conversations has changed, too. Instead of boys, boys, boys, parties, and fashions, we talk about our families – our children and grandchildren, our spouses and beloved pets, and now our aches and pains.
What a reassuring joy – our friendship!
We recognize and appreciate how special it is and want to share our story. We agreed to submit a brief version of it – in exactly 100 words – to meet the New York Times’, Tiny Love Story column’s requirement. This, The Clique – Now and Then, is how we told our story in exactly 100 words.
Now
We are “girls” chatting in text messages and on Zoom
it’s about our lives, our children, our joys, our challenges, and more.
Then
We were students at Malverne HS, talking on the family phone about boys, fashions, plans, and boys!
Now
We live in New York, Oklahoma, US Virgin Islands/Georgia, and South Carolina.
Then
We lived in Lakeview, an unincorporated village on Long Island.
In between
We moved for college, marriage, careers, and families of our own.
Always
We carry the warmth of our friendship – it is
our guiding star,
our compass through life,
our love for each other.
