In July 1984 I took my daughter Deb and her best friend Dawn to Martha’s Vineyard

Dawn and Deb – July 18, 1984

 

Dawn and Deb – December 29, 2007

The trip was a new experience in so many ways. I had never gone away alone with two teenagers, so that was different. I had never driven to MV by myself, so that was different. What I discovered was, that I liked being different sometimes.

We stayed here at the Kelley House.

We did a lot of things together but the girls also spent time doing their own things while I did mine. It was a nice mix of togetherness and apartness (is that a word).

We went to South Beach

 

Of course to Aquinnah to see the cliffs.

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The girls rented bikes one day while I went to the kite festival in Oak Bluffs, we had great weather and we laughed a lot, which is not hard to do around Deb and Dawn.

One incident that sticks out in my mind is dinner one night at The Wharf Pub & Restaurant in Edgartown. We ate early and the restaurant was almost empty. We were in the middle of our meal when our waitress came over to us and said.. “you might want to eat slowly as Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley are on their way in and I thought the girls might get a kick out of seeing them.” GIRLS… forget the girls, I was the one getting all excited. So we nibbled and waited, and waited… and then THEY walked past the window next to our table and into the restaurant. We wondered if it would be possible to say hello to them (it wasn’t), but as we left the restaurant and walked past their table Billy Joel smiled and waved. We giggled all the way back to the hotel and then called home to share our exciting news.

Twenty nine years later Deb and Dawn are still best friends and they still laugh A LOT when they’re together. I’ll never forget that trip and know they haven’t either.

– by Joan –