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Picture This

We took up no less than 7  hours of the waiters time, but we made it worth his while.  How many of you have friends that you are separate from. There aren’t enough hours in the day, you are too far away, but when you get together well it is amazing. When you sit across from someone who you have know since they were the age of the little one in the picture who now calls them grandma, it can be sobering as well as wonderful. We probably could have talked until nightfall but you know the time is coming to a close when the PHONES come out and everyone needs someone (waitstaff earns the tip here as well as earlier) to take the pictures to be accessible immediately to all.

We are so fortunate to have access to people we love and care about instantly, yet there is nothing like that face-to-face. I have some very beautiful friends and I mean outwardly as well as inwardly. I grew up in Southern California, I don’t know that any other place boasts of beauty and generally demonstrates it like Southern Cal does. I have to give my Georgia friends their “props”  on beauty though, transplants and the ONE native alike.

In my youth I attended the bridal shower of one of my  very pretty friends at a restaurant in Marina Del Rey. Everyone was dressed beautifully, but it looked like a magazine shoot for VOGUE, not because of the outfits but the ladies in the outfits.  The all-girl group Klymaxx’s song ” The Men All Paused” would have been appropriate, with slight rewording “everyone paused”. It was  absolutely amazing and it was fun. 20 women immersed in the celebration of an upcoming wedding, relatively oblivious to the fact people were watching them for no other reason than they were breathtaking. Cameras clicked and flashed, yes back then that is what a camera would do to let you know a photo was being taken, recording the memories for another time. Depending on who had the camera, you may or may not see those pictures for years. If you didn’t want to lug around a camera, that was the risk you took.

A  decade later a smaller group of us got together, for no reason other than we wanted to be together. Babies, work, relocation, life changed the outward appearance a little “more to love” on several  levels, yet the beauty was still there. A graceful aging process taking place, but the energy and positive vibe was breathtaking.  The waiter’s final duty take that picture.

Now we have grandchildren, retirement, some health challenges that are a part of our everyday lives. However each time we get together  the photographs we take  not only capture the current image but the memory of those 20 something beauties that are still alive and kicking. The inner beauty never changed therefore the outward appearance seems as though it has been air brushed and retouched just like VOGUE. I am so blessed to have ALL of you in my life, for so many years, coast to coast, and to be able to call you friends. You are always in my heart, my thoughts and looking forward to the next “half of a day” brunch.

Final thought for my readers; cherish your friendships and take lots of pictures!