One of the Debs even commissioned a special mug for each of us!
I’m rerunning an oldie today, a post about my dear Club Deb friends that first ran here in 2015. Club Deb is still going strong and in fact, we got together this past weekend for an early celebration of my birthday. As we get ready to move away from Kansas, these dear friends become all the more precious to me! (Stay tuned at the end of the post for a few new photos from our most recent outing.)
October 2015: Some of my dearest long-time friends just happen to share my name. Being named Deb/Debbie/Deborah/Debra isn’t what brought us together as friends. In fact, it didn’t even really register until three of us Debs attended a Christmas Open House years ago, and the hostess greeted us by name as we filed through the door. “Hi Debbie, Hi Deb, Hi Deb…well, look at that—three Debs!”
There are six of us in Club Deb now, and four of us share the name actress Debbie Reynolds made so popular in the 1950s. Club Deb also has an Elaine and a Bev, who we always teased about voting off the island—until one of the Debs realized that Elaine and Bev completed the acrostic that spells D-E-B.
Our friendships began almost two decades ago when we all lived in the same small Kansas town. We have a lot in common: We’re all about the same age, all married, have kids about the same age, and we all attended the same church at one time or another. But we celebrate our differences, too, and have learned so much from each other.
I don’t remember exactly when our “club” became official and we started holding regular “meetings,” going out to eat together, usually to celebrate one of our birthdays. This is the earliest photo we have (and Elaine is missing) taken shortly after the turn of the century. Ha! 🙂
It’s fun to look through our huge collection of Deb photos and see how our hairstyles and fashion and…weight 🙁 have changed over the years.
Our group got its name one summer when we all went to a bed and breakfast for the weekend. We introduced ourselves to some other guests at breakfast, and after hearing the string of “I’m Deb”s, one man exclaimed, “Ah, Club Deb, huh?” We loved it, and the name stuck.
We’ve had fun with our shared names—and more than a little confusion. I remember one of our servers trying to help us sort out the tab and thinking he was being helpful, he grabbed a pen and said, “Here…let me write your names on each ticket.” We just smiled. Deb, Debbie, Debbie, Deb…
Once in a while, we let our husbands in on the fun. (I just realized, looking at this photo, that four of our hubbies’ names start with R!)
But mostly it’s just us Debs—laughing, talking, encouraging, comforting, supporting, loving, believing. And celebrating…lots of celebrating: birthdays, our kids’ weddings, new grandbabies, new houses. Two of us have moved out of town, but that hasn’t kept us from getting together whenever we can. I’m so grateful God put friends like these in my life. I couldn’t feel more blessed.
April 2019: Here are a few photos from our fun day together last weekend when we ate brunch at Home Grown, walked through Wichita’s beautiful Botanica, browsed Paramount Antique Mall and Michael’s, then ate supper, opened presents, and talked for hours at Zoës Kitchen. What a blessed day!
These old ladies still know how to have fun! 😉
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My girlfriend, Deb, is in a book club where there are 3 Debs! They have been good friends for a long time too. In my second grade class there were 3 Annes. I was the only one “with an e”.
🙂
Ah! The Anne of Green Gables “e”! 🙂 Cool about the Debs in bookclub!
I think it’s wonderful how you’ve kept your friendships together throughout the years. Lots of memories there!
It really is a blessing to have friends who know you from way back! (And love you anyway. LOL!)
Love the Club Deb when I was in school there were so many of us that we went by Debbie S , Debbie H, and so on. I think it is so cool that you have a club. Have a Blessed Day.
I bet you could start a Club Deb wherever you are, Deb! There are still plenty of us around! I’m just waiting for the name Deborah to make a comeback, and for new babies to be named Deborah!
I love your Club Deb! When I was a new mom, a neighbor told me about a local group for mom’s of preschoolers. I was looking for things to do in those days… which is hard to believe now, because my schedule is so packed. I attended one of the group’s meetings and met other first time moms of babies the same age as my baby. Four of us formed a “playgroup” even through the little ones were too small then to actually play. We moms needed the friendship! It was wonderful to have women in my life who were focused on the same things that I was, who were so relatable. We met weekly until our babies started kindergarten. 🙂
We’re still friends to this day and get together for dinner to celebrate each others birthdays.
That sounds like an awesome group of friends, Becky! And so neat that you’ve kept getting together.
I love this club! I wish I had friends with the name Diane, but even in school there weren’t any. It’s great to stay in touch and have coffee together, and other ventures during the year. I love the smiles on all the Debs! 🙂
I’m surprised Diane wasn’t a more common name! I had a friend Diane and a friend Diana in high school in the 70s. Were you just ahead of your time!? 😉
Love this, Deb! 🙂 How very special that you and your dear friends have kept in touch and continue meeting every so often.
I’m very blessed to have my 4 very best friends from high school in my life, and we’re closer than ever now. The 5 of us were very good friends in high school, and at one particular time only one girl in our group was dating, so the rest of us made plans to go out for pizza one Friday night. I jokingly referred to us as “The Lonely Hearts Club” and that name stuck, so now, over four decades later we are still LHC (our shortened version of Lonely Hearts Club, LOL). 😉 I cannot imagine not having these precious friends in my life – – we’re as close as sisters. We’ve been in each others’ weddings, supported each other through births of our babies and funerals of our dear parents. I count these friends among my greatest blessings.
Thank you for sharing your Club Deb photos, too! Friends are such treasures. 🙂
Hugs, Patti Jo
Sounds like you’re not lonely, thanks to your Lonely Hearts Club. Loved hearing about your group of friends, Patti Jo! VERY special!
My name is Deborah but I have been Debi since high school. There were five Deborahs in my class. I really need that coffee mug – especially since I drink coffee morning, noon and night! Tell me where I can get one and I am on it.
Always fun to have another Deb comment on here! But alas, DEBIJOT, that mug was commissioned and made in a very limited edition (as in 6 mugs only) and not available in stores. (But I bet the potter could make a fortune if he mass produced them!) Thanks so much for dropping by the blog!