Nostalgia

Have you even wandered down memory lane back to when you were a teenager with all of the time in the world in front of you? I have never indulged much in the picking over of early memories or the questioning of roads taken or not, but I must admit in the last couple of weeks I have revisited those memories just a little bit.

It started a couple of weekends ago, when C2 and I went out to a funky left-bank restaurant in Geneva called L'Envers du Décor with Marc and Nat. In addition to a fantastic filet de Daurade, the restaurant had a live guitar band that kept devolving into 70's classics, replete with Swiss accent.

After the 4 of us sang an embarrassingly loud accompaniment to 'Hotel California', we started reminiscing over the songs that as teenagers made us ache for high school crushes to take notice and to request one of those tight clutch dances that left little to the imagination. The songs we shortlisted were Styx' "Suite Madame Blue", Chris de Burgh's "A Spaceman came Travelling", The Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin" and of course Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven".

Facebook has also caused me to wander back down over the years, as it has been so easy to reconnect with old friends from whom I have long long lost touch but who played such critical roles during such formative times in my life.

Then of course, there is my lovely girl, Sheila. My oldest friend. My rock. We met at 14, when we had side-by-side lockers in Grade 9 at Riverdale High School in Pierrefond, Quebec. As I have blogged on several previous occasions, our friendship has weathered time and distance beautifully. She and her 2 kids just spent 5 days with us in Geneva, returning to London this morning. They were 5 loud, raucous, loud, argumentative, loud, laughter-filled days that in spite of my upside-down house and exhausted kid, I wouldn't have traded for anything. Santé, my dear pal, here is to 30 more!

me and Sheila wine-tasting at the Château du Crest