“We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily difference we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee”
-Marian Wright Edelman
I can’t remember the last time I sat around a table with five girlfriends. Five fabulous women, ranging from the age of 31 to 45. Between the five of us we had one marriage, two divorces, one kid and a soon to be single friend, as her boyfriend was packing up his stuff so he could move out the next day.
Yes, there was five of us, one who after eight years of working for a horrible boss, left and was on her second month of playing hooky from adulthood, smoking way to many cigarettes and laughing about kicking the bad boy to the side.
Five sexy women, a mixture of freckled faces, blue, brown and hazel eyes, all with long hair and four with big boobs.
Between us all we could create our own United Nations, as we were a mixture of English, Irish, Greek, Mexican, Jewish, Italian, Lithuanian and African American.
We laughed while we stuffed our faces with french fries and fried cheese, as though somehow cheese wasn’t bad enough, “hey, here’s a thought, lets deep fry the stuff.” And despite our horror over the inevitable calorie intake, we still managed to put down several bottles of Sauvignon Blanc and Amstel Lights.
As I cut into a hunk of grilled Octopus, by-passing the beef skewers, I couldn’t help but be in awe at how five women from seemingly different upbringings could have so much in common? I mean, between the five of us we had ten funeral, five Bachelor degrees, three masters, to many heartbreaks to count and enough sex, or not, to birth our own State.
Each woman a warrior in her own right and still a human being with all of its frailties. One unable to eat because her mother was dying of ALS and one who couldn’t stop eating because she buried to many people in the last five years.
One who chose to talk about her new boyfriend instead of her beloved grandmother who had died earlier that week. One excited about accepting a new job offer to head her own division while choking at the prospect of giving up her freedom her hippie parents had drilled in her.
And while one women was putting the finishing touches on her new apartment equipped with a Jacuzzi, and balcony, the other one anxiously was awaiting her $1100 dollar bed, which she some how got for $400.00, plus free delivery, that would arrive the next morning, just in time to replace her ex-boyfriends bed.
Yes, there we were, five women and as we talked about our trials and tribulations of the week, month, year, I realized that sometimes these uneventful gatherings, were just what one’s soul needed.
Call an old friend today, text the Red Cross at 90999 to make a $10 donation to Japan, volunteer at the ASPCA, check in on an elderly neighbor. Actions speak louder than words.
Til next week my fabulous women!
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