Friends Indeed!

My mom was good at many things....one of which was making and keeping friends.  This last weekend my sister and I benefited from my mom's goodness.

For our second year my sister and I met two of my mom's best friends and one of their daughters in Stockton for a visit.  My mom and these lovely women met in Stockton once a year for close to twenty years.  They all went to high school together, but became fast friends right after high school when they  started working at Metropolitan Life - or The Met as they always refer to it.  These friends shared all of life's wonderful events together...and weathered life's difficulties also.

As those of you who know me are aware my sweet mom passed away two years ago...and my sister and I have been thrilled to now take up the mantle of this wonderful tradition of friendship. So, off we went to Stockton...we will not talk about the fact that we misjudged the time needed to get there, that we thought we forgot something and had to go back or that we got a little bit lost....these are things that no one needs to know.  But...when we did get there we had a wonderful time!  The visiting is effortless and we never run out of things to say! Lots of laughter and a few tears as we spend our hours together reminiscing, looking ahead, sharing good food, doing a little shopping and this trip a little exploring.

We visited a beautiful place that the three friends had been to on one of their trips together.  My mom loved this place so much that she talked my brother into taking his sweetie there!

A short jaunt from Stockton in Lodi....(although we did hear a funny story about my mom using her new GPS to get there when they went and the trip taking much longer!) is a place that seems like another world...Wine and Roses...

This is the gorgeous 'old' home that is on the property...it has some incredible rooms and a restaurant and bar.  Thanks to my mom's friend Marie we got to take a look at the rooms.

Can't you just imagine stepping up into this lovely bed or taking a bubble bath in this claw foot tub?

Just look at this bridal suite...makes you want to get married all over again! (To the same person of course!)

With it's own little dining room...

and french doors out to a private deck!  Surrounded by lovely old trees and up a few stories all of these rooms have the feeling of a very fancy tree house...

A gorgeous old staircase...

time worn wooden banisters... details from another time.

The grounds are so inviting...

something pretty to look at everywhere you turn...

With wine tasting, a spa, the wonderful restaurant and all these paths to wander you could get lost here for days.

We all got lost for a few hours...with our wonderful memories of Mom.

I can't find words to say what this trip has meant to me the last two years.  For a little bit of time I am surrounded by amazing women who loved my mom and can add to my own memories of her.  I am so grateful for the stories that I get to hear - for the love that is showered upon my sister and I.

Thank you Mom for putting these women in my life...thank you Marie, Mona and Jo Ann for all the love and memories...and thank you Jennifer for being Jennifer - you are the best!

xoxo        Elizabeth

PS.....

Before we left this lovely place we sat, relaxed, talked and had these yummy goodies and some out of this world coffee....

Remember...vacations are not for dieting!

xoxo