HARPER LADIES' LUNCH

 

          Yesterday, I wrote about friendship, probably because I was looking forward to the “Harper Ladies” lunch. This lunch is an event we began scheduling a couple of years ago. The impetus was the age of our Aunties or Moms. Aunt Elaine will be 96 this year and Auntie Phyllis was 93 last month. We all wanted more time with these funny and engaging women before it was too late.

          It’s always great to see everyone and to catch up on what’s been happening in each other’s lives and yesterday was no different. I’ve included a photo niece Mandy managed to take that includes all of us. Beginning with Mandy on the left up front and going counter-clockwise) are Aunt Phyllis, her daughter Sandi, moi, my daughter-in-law Angie, Sister Mary, Aunt Elaine, Mary's daugher Gilly and Mandy's daughter Abby.

          At our first restaurant lunch, both the Aunties ate and were ready to depart in less than an hour. Future lunches found us younger ladies stretching out the time by not ordering as quickly and lingering over and after our lunches.          

          Yesterday, some of the talk centered around what was going to happen when both the Aunties are no longer able to attend the lunches. Since Auntie Phyllis always has a glass of wine, us young’uns pledged to always have a glass of wine in her honor. For those of us driving, we might have to have longer lunches. There was also talk, as always, about health problems and/or successes. There’s a painful back, knees that are being difficult and being addressed by doctors and physical therapists, exercise efforts that we agree make us all feel better, whether one niece who has no children as of yet is taking one of the Auntie’s previous advice seriously (apparently not because she’s not yet in the family way), and lots of laughter and joking before and after lunch. Once lunch was served, it became fairly quiet…most of us were starving I think.

          There was also discussion about family members who are no longer with us. The youngest of the ladies is interested in geneology and asked questions about antecedents which we older ladies attempted to answer. She’s also interested in seeing more photos. I need to see what I have tucked away on the off-chance I have some to share.

          All in all, it was a very pleasant couple hours and we made plans to do it again in mid-April. We parted with lots of hugs, promises to keep in touch, and how happy we were to see each other.

          After I took Aunt Elaine home, I went a couple blocks down the street from the Foss Villages and joined my BFF at the neighborhood bar. It’s more of an outside venue as opposed to inside, especially when they have a band performing. Several of my BFF’s neighbors are in the band. It was chilly but very pleasant and the raspberry cider was the perfect dessert to my lunch. It also made the remainder of my afternoon very pleasant.