I recently read a novel by Elin Hilderbrand titled The Five-Star Weekend. A quick synopsis: the story is about a middle-aged woman who recently lost her husband to an auto accident and has trouble coming to terms with his death. She realizes her perfect life is not so perfect anymore and that her fame isn’t filling her life as it did. The main character, a blog food goddess, reads about a woman who, under similar circumstances, organized a weekend with four friends she called “The Five-Star Weekend.” The idea was to organize a fabulous weekend and invite a best friend from each period of her life. The main character thinks if she does something similar, she may get her life back, so she sets out to arrange her five-star weekend. She chooses four women to invite.
The first woman was best friends with our main character throughout her growing years. Our main character has known this woman for a long time.
The second woman invited was our MC’s best friend in college, and they are still friends. However, she knows inviting this friend will cause some controversy with friend number one but goes ahead and does it anyway.
The third friend invited is the woman who lives in the neighborhood and raised her children, who are friends with our MC’s daughter, at the same time. They are close and still share many common memories of motherhood.
When it comes to inviting friend number four, our MC has to try to figure out who her closest current friend is, and the person she chooses is a surprise.
After finishing the book, I started thinking. What four women would I invite to my five-star weekend, and why would I choose them? Picking my four women was not difficult, but I adjusted my time spans somewhat since I am old enough to be the MC’s mother. I would invite someone from my childhood (ages 5-20) as my first guest. My second guest would come from my college years, the third from my many years of employment, and my final choice would be my current closest and best friend, even though we have been friends for over thirty years.
For my childhood friend, I chose Kaye C. Kaye is my first-ever friend. We met at the young age of five. My family had recently moved into an old farmhouse in a new town. Shortly after our move, I started kindergarten. Kaye was in my class, and it didn’t take our mothers long to realize we were practically neighbors. I lived at the top of the hill, and Kaye and her family lived at the bottom. Kaye and I sat together on the school bus, played together during recess, and spent many fun times at each other’s house. We didn’t always have the same class schedule in high school, but we still remained close friends. During our junior year of college, we again had occasional classes together. When I planned my wedding, I didn’t think twice about who my maid of honor would be: Kaye. After our marriages, we drifted apart, busy with our careers and raising our children. It didn’t help that we moved from the old neighborhood to different cities. However, except for my family, Kaye was the first of my friends to reach out and congratulate me on my first novel, Justice for Lindsey. Yes, Kaye C. is definitely one of my 5-Star friends.
The next friend I would invite to my five-star weekend is my college roommate, Lois P. I didn’t meet Lois until we moved into our dorm room for my junior year of college. I lived at home for the first two years of my college days, but then my parents moved to another city, and I moved into the dorm. Lois and I got along right from the start. Even though I was studying to be a teacher and Lois’s field of study was social work, we had a couple of the same classes. Psychology class was my weak point, but Lois took the time out of her studies to quiz me when I had a test to take. Lois helped shy me come out of my shell and taught me many social graces. Our senior year, I moved out of the dorm into an apartment with some other girls for one semester. Then, I moved in with my father for the second semester as I planned to marry in April and wanted to save money.
While living with my father, I had a night class, and my fiancé drove me to class and picked me up when it was over. I always took the opportunity to stop by and visit Lois at the end of my class, and we would chat. Lois even threw me a bridle shower but couldn’t attend my wedding as she graduated that day. We kept in touch through the years via snail mail and Christmas cards. Lo and behold, in 2021, after Lois read my book, Justice for Lindsey, she called me, and we arranged for Lois to visit. I was so excited to see her; one would never think it had been over 50+ years since we were together. We spent two hours reminiscing about our college years and other girls who lived in our dorm. There is no way I would have a five-star weekend without Lois P.
I needed to consider who to invite to my five-star weekend as my work/mid-life friend, as I had so many, so I made a list. As I looked at my list, it was sad to realize that two friends on my list had already passed away. I finally decided on Janet J. We were teachers at the same Catholic school, our children attended the same high school and were in the school band, and Janet and I chaperoned band camp for four years together. At band camp, we roomed together and were both on the band council the rest of the time. As I thought about Janet, I remembered the fun times we had at band camp. To keep up the spirits of the relatively large band, Janet, two other chaperones, and I made cute pick-me-ups each day and would give them to the band members at the end of the day. One particular giveaway was a tootsie roll with an attached note saying, “Don’t give up. Roll with the punches.” I thought we would die laughing when we came up with the idea of taking red string licorice and tying it into a knot with a note that said something like, “When life gets difficult, just hang on.” The idea was good, but have you ever tried tying string licorice? It kept breaking, and we couldn’t stop laughing. Janet and I have kept in touch, mainly through social media, through the years after I moved four hours north. When we both wintered in Florida, we meant to get together but never did. I would love to have Janet J. at my five-star weekend.
My final choice of a friend to invite to my five-star weekend was an easy choice. Eileen H. and I have been close friends for over thirty years, but she is and will always be my forever best friend. Eileen and I met when she was the office secretary at the Catholic school, and I taught her three children. Then, when I became the school’s principal, we developed a close friendship. On our school-sponsored annual Christmas shopping bus trip to Chicago, Eileen and I would spend the day together shopping and enjoying the big city. My twin boys and Eileen’s oldest son became best friends in high school and hung out at our house or hers. This led to Eileen and I becoming best friends and our husbands became friends. Although my husband and I moved to northern Michigan and Eileen and her husband retired to Florida, our friendship continued to grow. We still communicate via snail mail, text, and social media. We ensured we spent time with Eileen and her husband when we would be in Florida during winter. It was like time stood still, and we picked up right where we left off the year before. I was both shocked and saddened when Eileen’s husband suddenly passed away in January of 2023. I would do anything for Eileen, and she would do the same for me. It wouldn’t be a complete five-star weekend if Eileen weren’t by my side.
As I write this blog post, I wish I had the financial means that the character in the book had so I could plan a five-star weekend for these four wonderful friends. It would be a lot of fun, but like the story, I am sure there would be some drama as that is what life is.
Can you think of four friends from different periods of your life that you would invite to such a weekend? Even though the book is about a woman, it doesn’t mean a man couldn’t also plan a five-star weekend with four of his buddies. Think about it and enjoy your trip to the past as you choose your invitees.
Until next time: “Don’t save today for tomorrow.”
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