Truth is Stranger than Fiction
As I may have mentioned previously, Grumpy and I spent our honeymoon staying with one of mum's old boyfriends in L.A.
This may sound a little odd, so let me explain. Shortly before we were due to get married, mum got a call out of the blue from an old GI who was visiting London. To cut a long story short, we all met up and when he found out we had planned to go to LA for our honeymoon he insisted we stay with him.
Actually, what he actually said was: "You're going to stay on Sunset Strip? Don't you know it's the red light district? You'd better stay with me."
(See echos of our trip to Gary even all those years ago. Who knew? I thought it sounded glamourous!)
He had a daughter of our age, also newly married. So we went over and she showed us a really good time, admittedly not something you expect on your honeymoon.
We kept in touch on and off over the years. When Grumpy went to the States on a business trip they met up again. Her children are the same age as mine and the youngest is even called Hilary.
Unfortunately they lost their home in the Northridge earthquake in the late 1990s and we had trouble finding them, although we found out they had survived and moved away.
When we knew we were coming to live in the U.S we tried desperately to contact them through the internet, but to no avail.
This week Orphan Nos 1 and 2 persuaded me to join Facebook, and I started plugging in old names to see who I could find.
Eventually I came across Marlene's (not her real name, this is my blog you know) oldest daughter. Turns out at the same time we were moving here, she was moving to Seattle.
So finally, this evening, I got to talk to my old friend. It was really strange. Like someone you knew really well, but at the same time not at all.
The strangest thing of all, was that her daughter had only joined Facebook herself within the past couple of weeks. And the conversation took place exactly almost 27 years to the day from the time of our first meeting. It's our wedding anniversary on Tuesday.
This may sound a little odd, so let me explain. Shortly before we were due to get married, mum got a call out of the blue from an old GI who was visiting London. To cut a long story short, we all met up and when he found out we had planned to go to LA for our honeymoon he insisted we stay with him.
Actually, what he actually said was: "You're going to stay on Sunset Strip? Don't you know it's the red light district? You'd better stay with me."
(See echos of our trip to Gary even all those years ago. Who knew? I thought it sounded glamourous!)
He had a daughter of our age, also newly married. So we went over and she showed us a really good time, admittedly not something you expect on your honeymoon.
We kept in touch on and off over the years. When Grumpy went to the States on a business trip they met up again. Her children are the same age as mine and the youngest is even called Hilary.
Unfortunately they lost their home in the Northridge earthquake in the late 1990s and we had trouble finding them, although we found out they had survived and moved away.
When we knew we were coming to live in the U.S we tried desperately to contact them through the internet, but to no avail.
This week Orphan Nos 1 and 2 persuaded me to join Facebook, and I started plugging in old names to see who I could find.
Eventually I came across Marlene's (not her real name, this is my blog you know) oldest daughter. Turns out at the same time we were moving here, she was moving to Seattle.
So finally, this evening, I got to talk to my old friend. It was really strange. Like someone you knew really well, but at the same time not at all.
The strangest thing of all, was that her daughter had only joined Facebook herself within the past couple of weeks. And the conversation took place exactly almost 27 years to the day from the time of our first meeting. It's our wedding anniversary on Tuesday.
posted by Hilary at
5:57 PM
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