Thank God for the Golden Girls

I am lucky to have many good friends. I am especially lucky that three of them - Kathy, Kate and Kris - I have known most my life. I met Kate in second grade. Kathy and Kris are my newer friends - I was in junior high before I met them. I know I'm being sentimental, but they have been a constant blessing in my life ever since.

On Saturday, Kathy, Kris and I spent the afternoon at Kate's. She and her husband Terry have a beautiful in-ground pool in their backyard - it's heated - and it's heaven. Kris was going straight from there to a graduation party, so she went in the house to change, fix her hair and fix her makeup, you know the drill. When she came out of the house - looking very cute - she missed a step off the patio and took a header right into the pool. It wasn't funny for about 5 seconds. When she stood up and was clearly okay, it got a lot funnier.

Fast forward a couple hours. We've left, but Kate is still poolside with her grandson who was spending the night. He wanted to wave goodbye to his parents, so Kate was holding him, jockeying for better waving position, and fell flat on her rear in a small blue spruce that's by the patio. Grandmother and grandson were fine. She called me while she was in the house, plucking pine needles from herself. It was funny immediately.

Then today, Kris came to my house so we could ride together to Kate's for another afternoon in the pool. Almost as soon as Kris got in my house she noticed her shirt was on inside out. She laughed, went into the bathroom and fixed it, and we were on our way. I hadn't been in Kate's house for more than two minutes when her husband Terry asked if I had been in a hurry to get there, because my shirt was inside out.

Seriously.

Long ago the four of us decided we would grow old together and take care of each other just like the Golden Girls. (We're going to keep Terry and Kathy's husband Chris around because they're cute and fun and handy.) We spend a lot of time together bemoaning the aging process. We're still not very old and yet, on some days, aging manifests itself in strange, unexpected ways. But as long as we can help each other up and make sure we're presentable in public, I think we'll be okay.

(PS - fyi - my daughter, Christina Catherine, was named in honor of my lifelong buds.)

Pie Logic

This weekend I got to spend a couple days with my granddaughter Emily. Friday night while Chrissy and Bryan were out, Em and I went to the grocery store to buy food for Saturday's dinner when company was coming over. I told her what we were serving, but that I hadn't planned anything for dessert, and she could pick the dessert all by herself. Cake, pie, ice cream, cookies, whatever she wanted. We browsed the bakery and she considered her options, but when she saw the pumpkin pie, she chose it immediately. It was her FAVORITE and we bought whipped cream to go with it.

After we finished shopping, we drove through Taco Bell for dinner. On the way home, Em said she'd like pumpkin pie for dessert. No can do, I said, the pie is for Saturday night. She seemed puzzled, but let it go. I assumed she was surprised I said no, because I never do : )

When we were home and eating our Taco Bell, Emily said she'd really like pie for dessert. I said "Emily, the pie is for tomorrow." Exasperated, she said "Jeano, I don't want the whole pie, I just want a piece."

Hard to argue with that kind of logic. She had a piece of pie. There was plenty for Saturday night, as Em knew all along there would be.