A Blast from the Past
Following the engagement party Lou's attention turned to organising everything for her and Paul's joint birthday party this year. This was going to be the biggest party they had ever held, it seemed that the family was continually growing, not that she was complaining though, she loved having everyone around, and to have them all there for her birthday for the first time in so long was exciting. She had roped Steph and Monica into the organising committee and the three of them spent much of the next few weeks working on various aspects of the party.
First off was the invites, this was Steph's domain as she was the artistic one. As a break from their normal parties the three of them came up with the idea of having a fancy dress party, or costume party as they found out it was called in America when Joe thought it meant tuxedos. When the invites went out Lou was inundated with phone calls asking about it. Her response was the same to everyone who asked, "yes it's fancy dress, but you can wear as much or as little as you like, just as long as we can see who or what you are." Everyone in the family was excited about the party, but no one was sharing what they had decided to dress up in, leaving it for surprises on the day.
For his part Paul did not find his services needed for the party preparation, which was just as well as he had other things on his mind. His up coming knee operation was giving him much to think about and with the impending birthday he stared to think about his age too. Since he had told John about Bob and Juanita, and then retelling that story at the party, he realised that he regretted the way things had ended with Bob.
What he had not told anyone was that the two couples ended their friendship over 30 years ago, when Bob and Juanita had not been at all impressed when they called on their friends to find Paul and Lou in a 69. That in itself was not the issue, it was the fact that whilst they were doing this Monica and Steve had been playing in the pool. Steve would have been about 11 and Monica 13. With their daughter Katy being aged between Steve and Monica they just had not been prepared for the openness Paul and Lou demonstrated infront of their kids, although they had been aware of it but never witnessed. They immediately left and then Paul had a phone call from Bob that evening telling him that he felt that their friendship had travelled its course and although they still cherished their memories they felt they could not visit around any more as the children reached teenage years.
Since that time contact between the two couples had been restricted to Christmas and birthday cards although those had dried up the past few years too. Paul needed to do something about this before it was too late. He had spoken to Lou and she could see his point but held out little hope. So here he was trying to find someway to contact Bob on line. In a flash of inspiration he went to Facebook and looked up their old college and sure enough there was Bob in the alumni group. Paul's heart was pounding as he worked back to Bob's profile page and of course there was very little there to be seen. Clicking on the send message button Paul wrote:
'Hello Bob, it has been so long you might have even forgotten us, but we have never forgotten you. I know things ended bad between us, but as we all are getting older I just could not leave it any longer. If you would like to get back in contact with us that would be wonderful. But if not then I understand and wish you all the best.'
He left it at that, not even clicking the follow button leaving that for Bob to decide. Paul closed the lid to his laptop and went outside to join Lou by the pool. When he told her what he had done, she said, "I bet you don't get an answer."
"You don't think?"
"No, it's been too long."
Paul was about to say that maybe she was right when his mobile beeped. He looked at it and saw there was a Facebook message. "Well what do you know! Bob has replied already and added me too."
"What does he say?" Lou asked now as excited as her husband.
"He says,
'Well Paul, I never expected to hear from you again, but am pleased you did. How are you two? We are fine here still living the nude life, are you? I still remember our college days with some fondness and the years after, I think we have a lot to catch up on.'
"Send him a reply then," Lou said. "And ask where they are living now as I think the address we were sending cards too must be wrong."
So Paul wrote,
'Bob, thanks for your message. Seems we are in the same situation, Lou is lying here by me and yes we are totally nude as always, thanks to you! She has asked me to ask you where you are living as she thinks the address we have is out of date. We are still in the same house we moved into when we married.'
Almost immediately a message came back from Bob, this time he gave his phone number too saying that typing was not his best skill and would be good to have a good old chat. "I would strike whilst the iron is hot," Lou told her husband. "You won't settle until you have spoken to him, and it seems like he wants to get back in contact too."
Paul agreed, and went back inside to his study and called his old best friend. It was a difficult conversation at first after so much time had elapsed but 45 minutes later he came back out to Lou. "That was a long conversation, you don't say that much to me in a day," she said smiling.
"35 years is a long time to catch up on."
"So how are they?" Lou asked.
"Seemed fine from what he said, you were right they have moved house and somehow their new address never reached us. You'll never guess where they live now."
"Probably not no, you will have to tell me."
"Remember that naturist club we looked at a few years ago, but decided it was a little too organised for us, well they only went and bought a park home on site and live their full time."
"But that's only an hour away from here."
"Yes, Bob said that when they stopped getting cards and things from us they thought we had wanted to break ties totally and so they never contacted us again. He was really quite sorry, and wants to meet up with us, I have the feeling that he at least has mellowed a little over the years. He said he had been thinking of us a lot recently but hadn't had the nerve to call. So anyway we are going over this afternoon to see them."
"WHAT!" Lou almost screamed, "you can't drop that on me like that, I might have things to do."
"Do you?"
"No, but that's not the point, I will have to get myself ready to visit them."
"Well it's not like you have to choose what to wear, they live on a nudist club."
"Yeah I know but still you should have asked."
"You have two hours before we need to leave, that should be long enough for you to do whatever you need to get ready."
And so it was that three hours later, and only four hours since Paul sent his first message on Facebook that he and Lou pulled up to the gates of the nudist club that was now Bob and Juanita's home. The guy at the gate seemed to be expecting them and directed them to where Bob's unit was. As they drove through the site they passed couples and whole family groups all enjoying themselves naked.
"Do you think that there is a different feeling about this place compared to when we visited it years ago?" Paul asked.
"Yes it does seem a little less stuffy for sure," She agreed.