The three of us, friends since 1958, our freshman year at Willamette joined for lunch at a charming tea room just outside the southern entrance to the Luxembourg Gardens. We were seated two on a settee and one on a chair in the center of the restaurant, with a full view of the pastry case just to one side of us. Never short of conversation we were fully engaged as each of us silently noticed three French women arrive for lunch together, women of a certain age, similar to ours. I was seated with a full view of their animated conversations that appeared to be much like ours. At one point during our lunch we three commented on what a darling threesome they were and wondered how similar their friendship was to ours.

As they rose to depart, shortly before we were ready to go, I caught the eye of one of the ladies and asked if they had been friends for many years. Indeed, since their childhood, which they informed us, was at a much earlier time than ours. When we told them we met in college in 1958, they sweetly announced that they were married with children by 1958!! They were 83, two were sisters and the third was their childhood friend. One had family living in Miami. They were an adorable trio and it was a magical moment of shared experience between les trois amies Américaine et les trois amies Francaise having Sunday lunch ensemble.

The photos that follow except for the top left one that was taken in the tea room record the stroll we took through the misty Luxembourg Gardens after our leisurely lunch that took the bettter part of three hours of nonstop conversation.  Nancy (right) lives in Pleasant Hill, California; Sue (middle) lives in Vancouver, Washington; and I live just outside Tucson, Arizona.  We have a shared love of art and music and nearly sixty years of friendship.

This little list was in the window of a small art gallery as I walked back to my apartment after our Sunday lunch.