Reconnecting

Yesterday I had the chance to reconnect with an old friend. Marsha grew up across the street from me (I use the term "street" loosely, because it was not paved til I was in jr. high and never had a street sign or name). Marsha was a year ahead of me in school, my sister Beth's age, so was a friend of the whole family. She was also the head cheerleader when I was a junior in high school, so my"boss". She and I also went on a double date together, probably my first real car date. We went to Top of the Triangle to eat (top of the USX bldg, now the UPMC bldg) and to a Penguins hockey game! Marsha was the most popular girl in our high school because she was nice to everyone. Still is.
When I went off to Clarion for college, Marsha was already there (she transferred the next year to a branch that had nursing). Marsh still lives in the area where we grew up, and married a hometown boy.
She and that hometown boy, Joel, have built a dream house out in the country that I went to tour yesterday with my mom and my sisters. I should have taken pictures because you would not believe this house! First of all, it is massive, and the outside is a mixture of huge windows, natural wood and stone. Joel is an inventor of sorts, and a collector of all things unusual, so he used those two skills to build this house himself. The ceiling in the great room has to be at least 20 feet high, and there is a go-cart hanging from this ceiling with a manequin that Joel named (and proudly told us has 24 moveable parts). Also in the great room are a phone booth (with a working phone) and a motorcycle as art. One wall is bookshelves with a ladder like you see in a library that slides back and forth across the shelves so you can climb up and find the book you want. Joel also rescued a scoreboard from a high school gym and rewired it so it works....that hangs from the ceiling as well.
He has built a sauna into the house as well as a boy's bathroom and a girl's bathroom. The girls bathroom is all taupe and gold....complete with a jacuzzi tub on a platform. The boys bathroom has a urinal, a phone beside the toilet, and a heated seat in the shower. The whole house has heated floors.
The laundry room has a dumb waiter that comes up from the garage so that you don't have to climb stairs with your groceries in your arms. Genuis!
The fireplace, that starts on the first floor and soars up two more stories, has a hidden room behind it (just because).
I am waiting for this home to be featured in Architectural Digest, and I am waiting for the article on patience to come out about Marsha in Guideposts, who has lived through Joel building his dream house for the past 20 years. They moved in five years ago and it is still a work in progress.
Our reunion was full of laughter and tears as we reminsced about old times and got caught up on recent events in all of our lives. A great Saturday activity!