The Big 40

I returned home from Berkeley Springs, WV, yesterday after attending a gathering of old friends dubbed "The Big 40." We all turned 40 this year and got together to reminisce, eat, drink and be merry. Oddly enough and without any prior knowledge, this weekend fell on the same weekend as the "Hey, Girlfriend!" weekend in town. We wandered down on Saturday for a drink at the local pub, but found we were not overrun by the "Wild Women" as one local called them.

The weekend began with a two-hour drive north for me to our cabin - a large A-frame - near Cacapon State Park. I can't remember the last time all of us had been together in one place. It was good seeing everyone, catching up and raising a beer (or many) with my old pals from high school.

Rooms were divvied up with hands of poker, each winner getting his choice of room. Soon after, the evening's surprise meal was revealed - lobster! Thanks, Mark.


After dinner it was tunes, brews and poker followed by some rounds of pool in the basement's billiard room. It was around 3:30 a.m. when the last of us called it a night.


The next morning, or should I say later that same morning, after coffee and breakfast we took some photos on the deck.




After the photos, we headed into town. We browsed an antique shop and stopped in Tari's Cafe for a drink. Then it was back to the cabin for lunch courtesy of Russ who brought all the fixin's for cheese steaks from Joe's Steak Shop, thanks Russ!


The festivities slowed down a bit as we kicked back. Rob had organized a raffle and prizes were given out in the afternoon. I came away with a set of ratchet wrenches, thanks Rob! You were allowed to trade your prize before actually seeing what was inside the unlabelled box. Russ traded his with Stace, most likely just to mess with him, and ended up with the top prize of a $50 Home Depot gift card. Stace got the short end of the trade winding up with a "Dollar Store" Hulk bobble-head pen.

We fired things back up literally by firing up the grill, cranking up the tunes and cracking open the beers. Poker ensued once again and yours truly finally won some of his money back that was lost the previous night. It didn't matter who won or lost, not when you're laughing that hard, it was great fun.


During and after poker, Rob broke out the microphone and sang along with some tunes - a long-standing tradition at Lago's Lounge - and Matt and Mark joined in on drum and guitar respectively. Rob even donned his hard rockin' wig on a few numbers. We went late into the evening once again and called it a night around 3 a.m.




Sunday morning we were up probably earlier than any of us wanted, but it was check-out day and it was time to pack and clean up before heading our separate ways. It was a great weekend and who knows when we'll all be together again, perhaps at the next gathering "The Big 45" or "The Big 50"?

Thanks Matt for reserving the cabin and organizing things!

For those of you not in the know and wondering why there's a large Gumby in the group photo... We all went to high school together and each year the senior class celebrated "Crazy Day" - a day when seniors came to school dressed in costumes and prizes were given for best costume, etc. Seven of us got together and dressed as Gumby, made popular at the time by Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live. We called ourselves "The Seven Gumbys."


Although we've been out of touch with two of the original Seven Gumbys, The Big 40 was never about a Gumby reunion, it was about getting together with old friends and celebrating a milestone in our lives. Think of it, if you had a 40-year-old restored car or watched a 40-year-old movie that was recently released on DVD or listened to a 40-year-old song, you’d call them old or "classics." I guess that's what we are, old classics still going strong. Cheers!