Grrrrrrlfriends

Met with some high school girlfriends last night, and had a luffly time at an old watering hole in the big city. This isn't a big deal for most people, but you see, I am allergic to women. I've always had one or two close girlfriends, and then a slew of male friends. I'm not comfortable with women topics much, like Oprah's Book Club, or which make-up covers up blemishes best, or what shoes to wear with white pants.

I'm much more comfortable saddling up to the TV and watching a good old-fashioned American football game. I know my first down from my P.A.T...and I know when the other team is cheating.

But back to last evening. We sat out on the patio on a cool evening and chatted from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. We discussed our lives; each giving a report on what's been up since 1986, when we all graduated from college and lost touch. I had a fun tale to tell: got married at 25, had a kid at 28, got divorced at 31, got depressed, got drugs, had a variety of jobs, and ended with being happily married to a wonderful man for ten years.

They wanted to know all about the fire, so I waxed philosophical of the life lessons I think I've learned in the past 5 months. To sum:

1. Shit doesn't matter much, but shit matters greatly.
2. Life is more important than stuff.
3. It's humbling to be on the receiving end of charity.
4. BACK UP your pictures and music and anything that you value, and put it in a safety deposit box.
5. Dissociation is a very comfortable place to be.

So, my grrrlfriends all had life lessons and interesting stories and we had many giggles. Val has the best belly laugh, Terri has the best smile, and Jayne is still the Homecoming Queen in my book. I'd rather have a fire than to go through chemo and radiation due to breast cancer, like Terri, fer sure. I'd rather have a fire than join the Peace Corps (twice) and fight the bugs and sexism in Papua New Guinea like Val.

Time to turn on the TV and catch a Cubbies baseball game.