Girls Night Out

Before I moved to Florida, our house fairly hummed with testosterone. My son and husband commandeered the TV on weekends, watching sports together. They talked about poker. I spoiled them both, and happily so, by doing most of the cooking. Without other family around, the guys outnumbered me, so they really set the agenda--and that was fine.

But everything changes, doesn't it? And happily so, for the most part.

One reason we bought a home here is that I'm ten miles away from my two sisters and my four nieces. Tonight I my sisters (Jane and Meg), my brother-in-law (Mike), and three nieces (Katigan, Makenna and Grace) came over for dinner. I marinated the meat. The girls helped chop the veggies for kabobs and load it on skewers. They mixed the salad. Mike was designated "Grill God" for the evening, so he did the cooking. We sat down at the table for a great meal--and then his beeper went off and he was called into work at the hospital.

That left "just us girls."

All of us chattered and worked together to pick up the mess. Then Meg announced she had something to show me. She and Mike had found my aunt's old projector while cleaning out their garage.

Meg set it up, projected the image on my wall, and we watched an old 8 mm tape that must have been made almost 40 years ago! It makes me sad to think that Kodak is having trouble these days, because this puppy still works--and it was like a magic lantern illuminating the past. (By the way, do you remember the sound and smell of these? Trust me, it's distinctive.)

In it, my mom wore big sunglasses and waved to the camera as she walked to our car. Jane and I also walked to the car, then I turned and went back for Meg, reappearing with her on my shoulders. Even without sound, you can see how much we sisters relied on each other.

Of all the gifts my parents gave me, the best by far was my sisters.

Meister Eckhart has been credited with saying, "If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, 'thank you,' that would suffice."

Thanks, Mom and Dad!