My Sun Valley Girl Posse - Linda, Judy, Etienne & Chantal

Sorry I missed doing a blog last week but it was my birthday (no numbers, please!) and I was (still am) in Sun Valley, Idaho taking a little vacation with Joshua before school starts on September 8th. My parents have a beautiful place here which allows us to have a ready made home away from home...it doesn't get much better than that!

So, here's the scoop. Linda Fratianne, Judy Blumberg and I have known each other since we were little girls. We met at the Tarzana Ice Rink in Tarzana, California where we all shared a passion for figure skating. As time went on and our competitive careers got more challenging we changed rinks and coaches. Linda and I went to Frank Carroll, Judy to Betty Behrens...all of us began training at Van Nuys Iceland and Pickwick Ice Arena, home of the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club, which we all represented for the rest of our skating days. We lived for figure skating...simply could not get enough of it. How could we have possibly known back then that it would lead to lifelong connections?

Linda today

Sun Valley Showgirl Linda

Linda and I were particularly close growing up. Her natural talent combined with her incredible work ethic made her a stand out skating prodigy from the start. I admired and adored her; her shy, humble demeanor was particularly beautiful to behold in someone so young and gifted. I still have the postcards she sent me from an international competition in Vienna and the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck (her second Olympics in 1980 at Lake Placid earned her the silver medal...1/100th of a point away from the gold). She still has a little photo album with childhood pictures of her family in it...and me, the only non-family member to make the cut...how magical is that?!

Judy, daughter, Etienne & Maddie

Judy & her dance partner, Michael, competing

As for Judy and I, we went to junior high and high school together so we saw each other constantly along with a couple of other skater girls that went to school with us. None of us could wait to get on the ice at the end of our day. We went straight from school to the rink where we felt safe, had real friends and very lofty goals for ourselves. Judy started out as a singles skater but down the line switched to ice dancing which became her forte...a very smart, savvy move. She went on to four national titles with her partner.

As Linda and Judy went on to skating fame and glory at both the national and international level I quit skating at eighteen to go to UC Berkeley, then live in NYC to begin my career as an actress (one of the few spots I did in NY was ice skating for a Meadowlands commercial - actually ran into Judy at Sky Rink when I did my callback audition - what were the chances of that?!). We all kept in touch sporadically as the years rolled by.

Eventually, both Linda and Judy built lives as coaches in Sun Valley...a mecca for figure skaters especially in the summer months when kids from all over the country and world come to train. I remember as a teenager begging my mother to let me come but she refused to allow it, so it was ironic when years later she fell in love with the area and insisted that my dad buy them a place here. And that is how Linda, Judy and I found each other again.

We've since shared life's triumphs and disasters; from marriages to divorces, from boyfriends to single motherhood (Judy and I adopted our children...me, domestically, her from China), from good health to bad and back again, from parents living to dying, from success to failure or disappointment, from financial security to instability, from laughing to crying and so much more.

On this particular trip, we shared a wonderful birthday dinner (mine) with my parents, some friends of theirs, my son, Joshua, and Judy's little girl, Etienne (Linda's daughter, Ali, was busy preparing to go away to college later in the week). As you might imagine, there was a lot of raucous laughing, teasing and all around merriment..no one wanted it to end. As we stood outside the restaurant (a French bistro, bien sur) Linda began crying...she couldn't bear to say good-bye to my parents, who openly adore her but were unwittingly reminding her of how desperately she missed her own parents, both of whom had died many years earlier. Judy and I embraced her as she sobbed, forming a kind of cocoon around her. It was a group hug that brought all three of us to tears of gratitude...for our history together, the privileged lives we've lead and the friendships we continue to honor...a glorious, unforgettable moment in time.

Sun Valley Summer Ice Show

As if that moment wasn't enough there have been many others throughout my 10 days in Sun Valley. My parents went back to LA and Joshua went to day camp at the YMCA here so I  had even more time to be with my girl posse...sometimes just Linda, sometimes Judy and Etienne (one of the most enchanting children on the planet), sometimes my friend, Chantal (not a skating connection but originally an LA one as well)...sometimes a combination of the above...eating, drinking, talking, laughing, crying,  supporting each other...always a joy.

Just yesterday, after having brunch together with Joshua, Chantal made me laugh so hard I almost fell on the floor as she tried to figure out how to shut off the wind shield wipers in the borrowed car she was driving. This morning was a walk/talk with Judy and Etienne plus many hugs and kisses. Tonight Joshua and I will take Linda out for her belated birthday celebration. Though I am strictly a city girl who only  visits the countryside from time to time, I love Sun Valley and my girl posse - passionate, smart, funny, engaging, inspirational, talented women who I share such a rich history with and who are helping guide me through this crazy thing called life...Merci mes belles filles...merci beaucoup!