Friend Weekend

Friends: the folks who love and admire you for what the wider world disparages you. They require no pretense, as they already know the truth and love you anyway. One of the genuine joys of age is the privilege of having friends who have known you in all your incarnations—in my case from fatuous college freshman, through international publisher, ESL/English teacher, to country woman/writer.

One showed up this weekend—my NYC college roommate Ms. Costello. We stopped by Mt. Carmel and took one of our teachers to lunch, to River Lights Bookstore, and the Dubuque Chorale's Let the River Run concert, which featured two Cascaders, Sr. La Donna Manternach and Alyce Dolphin, who acquitted themselves admirably.

We were impressed at the well-rehearsed excellence of the chorus, choice of music, expression of the river theme and overall color and execution. Eastern Iowa looked not only green and gorgeous, but fertile and cultivated enough to pass New York muster.

My cinco de mayo birthday feels very special indeed, serendipity of critical success.