Dinner with an Old Friend

Tonight, Kathy, Chelsea and I got together with Donna to celebrate birthdays and Christmas by exchanging gifts and going out to dinner. If the old Girl Scout saying, "Make new friends but keep the old; one is silver and the other gold," rings true, then Donna is our most golden joint friend.

We met Donna 16 years ago when we hired on at the Disney Store in Northridge, where she had already been working a couple years. Amazingly, she still works there having survived yet another retail Christmas. I admire her devotion to the Mouse.

We've seen her kids grow up. Donna's mom has been our benefactor, allowing us to stay at her timeshare at Old Key West for our honeymoon at Walt Disney World. She's rooted for me during Disney trivia contests and I've rooted for her. We've taken trips together to Disneyland and gone together to the movies to watch the latest Disney flick.

It's been nice having a good friend to share my Disney obsession with. Old school mates may have tolerated my interest in Disney and Kathy probably humors me more than anything. I still keep in contact with several of my Triviateer friends but distance keeps us from hanging out very often. So when I visit Donna at her house and see her display cases full of Disneyana and look at her bookshelf with nearly as many Disney books as I have, it is a comforting, reassuring feeling. Next to Donna, my interest in Disney seems comparatively mild.

I'm not the most social person and I don't do enough sometimes to keep in touch with old friends, so it is especially satisfying to still have a friend like Donna in our lives. Our friendship was "started by a mouse" and continues to be a fun and fulfilling relationship. I'm glad that after having a chance to see her kids grow up that she'll have a chance to see our little girl do the same. And I'm glad that we'll have the chance to enjoy many more dinners with our old friend Donna.

Matt