We Must Do This More Often

Today was another one of those lunches with people I used to see frequently and rarely see any more. And at the end of it, we said the same thing everybody else has said -- "This was such fun, we must do this more often."

Maybe this is what happens when you get older. Suddenly you realize that you miss the people who used to be close to you years ago.

Today's lunch was with Cindy (my dentist) and Roberta, with whom Cindy and I used to work, and with whom I share a birthday. I told Cindy it was nice to see the lower part of her face, since it seems that all I have seen of her in a long time was the part that goes above the mask she wears in the office! She arranged lunches for the three of us for many years around the time of Roberta's and my birthday. But we hadn't done it in several years.

Cindy had prepared a fabulous spinach salad for lunch and we sat there getting caught up on our lives and our children, until her daughter called. The daughter, who is attending the university here in town, lives in a duplex that Cindy and her husband own. There was an electrician there to do some work and the daughter had to get to class. Cindy invited Roberta and me to continue our lunch, have dessert, make coffee if we wanted, and let ourselves out when we were finished, because she had to go to the house.

So we did that. We continued our visit, had dessert and then left, with promises to get together more often.

This "we have to do this more often" is already coming around for a second date very soon. Ruth and I, who went to the Chinese buffet last week, will be having lunch again next week here in Davis and my friend Kathy, from La Leche League and PFLAG, will be having lunch at Sacramento's Olive Garden again the week after that...and the week after that is Cousins Day. The weekend of the 13th I was just invited to a party for a woman I went to high school with--I haven't seen her since 1960.

I feel almost as social as my mother! I actually have a FULL calendar! I love it.

In the evening, we were scheduled to meet Ned & Marta; Tom, Laurel and Bri; and Jessica with her toddler Jack at Sudwerk for a birthday dinner. It was going to work out fine. We would meet them at 6 and I could still get to the theatre in time to review Kiss Me Kate at 8.

Only traffic and weather slowed Tom & Laurel, so they called and we rescheduled until 7:00, by which time Sudwerk was filled and we had a half an hour wait for a table. Just looking at how crowded it was, I could tell I wasn't going to get dinner. But I did order a plate of mini crab cakes (4 of them, about 1-1/2" across each) and a glass of water.

Tom finally arrived and the old man and his sons had a good time visiting with each other.

Bri and Jack enjoyed each other too.

Just about the time the waitress finally came by to take our order, it was time for me to leave, so I took a picture of everyone, gave hugs all around and went to the theatre.

Walt made it to the theatre just at the end of the first act, so it's good I didn't try to have any dinner. I got myself a cookie at intermission and came home to have some leftover chili in a tortilla for a late dinner.

But I think Walt had a good birthday, all things considered. He had lots of e-mails wishing him well, a call from each person in the family, a visit with Char in the afternoon, checking out her cousin's new bookstore downtown, and then dinner with everybody...and he had a nice nap during Kiss Me Kate. What more could a 70 year old want, except maybe a nap?