Belated Birthday Lunch

My sister-in-law and my ex-sister-in-law took me out for my birthday lunch today...a month late but we all have very busy lives. Another friend joined us and we went to our favorite restaurant in the world, La Speghett. The pasta there is just too good for words.

We've made it a habit in the last few years to take each other out for birthday lunches and it's turned out to be a nice ritual. We don't really need much of an excuse to eat out but it's nice anyway. We needed to get past this birthday lunch because there's another one looming on the horizon in October.

As I sat looking around the table I thought how different we all are in personality and yet we all get along well. There is a main trait we all share and that's supreme honesty and trustworthiness. The differences just make us more interesting to each other.

Throughout our lives we probably won't have very many real close friends but, if we're lucky, we'll have many casual ones. Some will be friends by circumstance or location and some will be friends by shared interests. It's always best to allow new friendships to develop without being too critical because you never know when you'll come across a gem.

My sister-in-law knew I wanted a venue for selling my new interest, jewellery, and she found out that there would be a craft fair at our local senior center. I told her today that I'll be renting a table there and hoped she'd come with me to work it. Her immediate response was, "Of course!". I try not to assume but I knew she'd be more than willing to help me. Really good friends make it too easy for us to assume rather than ask for their help.

After our lunch we all sat out in my backyard and admired the flowers (slightly wilted from the heat) and the busy, noisy birds. We talked about our plans for the winter and our January cruise and I realized how nice it was that we all can enjoy our twilight years as well as we do. My mother and grandmother never had it this good but I bet they'd be happy for me.

We said our goodbyes with plans for our next get-together. Three of us are going up to my other sister-in-law's cottage for the weekend so there's not much wait time. Life is good!