Lunch

Friday, June 13, 2014

Today I am grateful for lunch.  Not the crummy lunch I’d throw together if I was home and eat by myself in front of recorded House Hunters International shows, but lunch out with friends.  New friends.  Well, some new friends, some older.  Okay we’re all old but some of us are just getting to know each other.

A few months after I was retired, a friend of mine invited me to lunch with some of her other friends.  It was nice.  I was hesitant.  I can be a bit. . .well. . .to be honest, over the top.  I can heeeaaaar you!  I tried to tamper my opinions, not completely, but toned down.  (Hands on hips here.)  YES, I can tone it down if I want too.  I just don’t want to very often. 

Yesterday I had lunch with those available.  Sometimes we’re three, four, five, six or more.  All of these women are different and a blast.  One read my blog about how I like to color and she brought a coloring book and crayons to lunch.  Crayola.  Several times.  When I actually colored, another woman said, “You’re really going to color?”  It calms me.  I think she was a little befuddled.  After the third time, no one even noticed.

One day I was agitated.  Who knows why?  “When my dog gets anxious I pet him.  Do you need petting?”  I thrust my forearm onto the table in front of her and she petted it.  Now if I start getting nuts, anyone I’m sitting next to will pet my arm.  I get nuts often.  We’re all nuts often.  Good nuts.  And I love it.  And we’re getting nutser*.  (Don’t bother looking it up.  It’s a word. . .now)  Being nuts is the best.

One of the women is getting to know me better since she’s been reading my posts, she starts laughing the minute I sit down.  I love that.  I love to laugh a lot, but I love seeing other people laugh more.  It’s healing.  It’s refreshing.  And she’s a great audience for my nutsness.  (A form of nutser.  See * above)

Yesterday’s lunch ended not long after I started singing oldies along with the canned background musak, into a salt shaker while others were looking up the location of Dayton, Ohio on smart phones.  “It’s south and west of . . .,” one said.  “Hah!  Just like your virginity!” another responded.  LOL!  AA! (which I just made up and means  - All Around!)

Sometimes the food is great, sometimes just okay.  Sometimes we talk about world events, sometimes families, or aging, or where to go next.  Grandkids are a common topic. A lot of times we share books and why or why not we liked them or hated them, but you should read it anyway, just because of how it’s written.  “Who wrote it?”  I don’t know.  “What’s the title?”  I haven’t a clue, but it was really, really good.

One thing is constant.  By the end of lunch at least one, but usually more of us, sometimes all of us, will have spilled something right down the front of our shirts.  Always.  Without fail.  We should pack a bottle of Spray ‘n Wash to bring along with the crayons and books!  I can mark lunch locations and conversations by the stains I have on my clothes. . .and I’m grateful for every one!