Book Club = Happy Times

Photo Courtesy of Chrissy via FACEBOOK (um, without permission, but I assumed it would be okay)

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Amanda, Patty, Sheila, Claudia, Chrissy, Smart Cookie (k, let me just state for the record that I had NO IDEA that that top I was sporting was so booby-licious. Seriously, who do I think I am, J.LO?), Lisette

Last night was our first bookclub meeting, and despite all my fretting, it turned out to be just as much fun, if not more, than I had anticipated. All the cleaning and worrying and suicide threats were totally worth it. And my biggest fear, sitting alone in a clean house full of lit candles with a glass of wine, being sad-face and lonely because nobody showed up was, as always, just a product of my overactive, pessimistic, seriously crazy imagination. Thankfully.

Really, it turned out to be more of a mini-reunion than an actual bookclub -we discussed the book for a total of five minutes, maybe. Out of seven of us, only four of us managed to read the whole book. And to be fair, three out of the four who read the book are without bambinos, which makes it, I'm sure, a smidge easier to read.

It was a serious trip down memory lane. We talked about so many people that I don't even remember that I seriously felt the need to dig out my high school yearbook and look a bunch of these people up. Seriously, did I go to the same high school as some of these guys? Where was I when all this drama was going down?

Something that I found really amazing and really enjoyed was how open we all were about discussing our fears and insecurities when we were younger. And how it sometimes takes growing up to realize that the uber popular cheerleader and more (Chrissy, that's you, baby!) had the same feelings of doubt as the quiet girl, the free spirit, the stalker (your words! not mine! But really maybe you could go into the private eye business), and all the other types that exist in every single high school across America, a la Breakfast Club.



We ate delicious snacks (Chrissy, J LOVED the tomatoes and mozzarella. Quel surprise, right? Those I-talians! SO predictable!) and drank wine. I drank so much wine (three glasses on a school night, whoa -nelly!) that I woke up in the middle of the night with a seriously dry mouth, and too lazy to wake up, I tried to gather up enough spit in my mouth to swallow and alleviate the cottonball-ness of it all. How gross can I get, right? Oh, and there was one moment in the middle of the meeting, that I was attempting to pour myself some more vino. It was a small bottle, and since there were seven of us, I didn't want to hog it all, so I tried to pour myself a tasty little driblet. I was gently pouring. And gently pouring. And nothing came out. How odd! Um, until I realized I still had the cap on. All this after only two glasses! Lightweight.

You know how I had mentioned the mess that were my closets, cabinets, and drawers? I actually considered pinning a blindfold next to the kitchen closet and making whoever opened the closet to throw out trash put it on so as not to see the chaos behind closed doors. I didn't do that (that's kinda crazy talk, no?), but whenever anyone opened the closet to throw out garbage, I sidled up behind them and whispered, "Just look down! Don't look up!" No. I really did. I whispered this to Claudia while she was throwing out something, and I must've caught her offguard, or maybe she's just really good at following directions, because she, um, dropped the trash on the floor accidentally. What did I expect?

It was just a really great time. My friends are usually a couple of years older or younger than I am, and that can sometimes result in a big difference in life experiences and expectations. Meeting with these AWESOME women made me feel proud of the women we are, and how far we've come.