Jane, John and Nicks



Me with Jane, Monday night

I had supper with an old friend tonight - Jane Buck from Atlantic. Pablo was there too. She's the mom of one of my Atlantic classmates, Tommy Buck. Back in my tomboy days, I loved going to the Buck house - down the hill and around the corner from ours, to play with Tom and his guy toys. (green plastic army men - he had a million of 'em) My big sis Susi and Linda Buck were friends in high school.

I quit hanging with Tom when I discovered I was a girl, and I lost track of Jane after I graduated from high school. Like many of the men who worked at Walnut Grove animal feed, her husband Bill Buck died too early of cancer - lymphoma Jane said, when he was only 57. So tragic. That was the year we got married, 1982. Jane moved out of Atlantic soon after that, settling into the Des Moines area in various locations through the years.

Then Facebook was invented and Jane and I reconnected. We've seen each other a couple times the past three years - most recently last summer during the All School reunion in Atlantic. When Paul and I knew we'd be living up here I thought it would be a good time to catch up with Jane. She's fun to talk to and frankly, I miss hanging out with that generation - especially since Dad died.

The cool thing about Jane is that she doesn't act 80. She lives in a "retirement" complex, but doesn't have much time for old folks. Jane doesn't wish to eat supper at 5 p.m., much less arrive early for it at 4 p.m. like some of the residents do. She stays up until midnight, and has a computer that she must be fairly adept at. I know she's going to read this...and I don't want her head to get too big, but to me she seems to be pretty sharp. And I'm not even going to say "for her age" because I'm the chick who ordered the same book twice for book club.

We went to John and Nick's out in West Des Moines for supper. It's an offshoot of Chicago Speakeasy, an old fashioned steakhouse. While we ate we had a little gab-session - chatting about Atlantic folks. Jane keeps up on people, and I miss the gossip now that Dad is gone and I don't talk to his friend Kay Harris much anymore.

We had a great time. Even Paul was able to follow the conversation - since he's an honorary Atlantic person now, since he's been around me so long. All too soon it was time to say good bye. Jane tried to talk us into coming up for a cake she'd baked, but I was stuffed already from Prime Rib - with leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

I aim to have Jane's attitude in life - keep learning and don't act your age! Words to live by. As soon as she sends me the picture Paul took of us tonight, I'll post it here proudly. (She sent it Tuesday - it's at the top of this blog).