Holiday party

last night was wonderful. Aside from the horrendous shopping traffic, accidents and stalled vehicles on the freeway, we finally made it to my friend's house. This year it was hosted by Gail who lives just above the 580 freeway in San Leandro. Ms G has a beautiful two storied corner home with tiered backyard garden which is often frequented by raccoons. She even has a framed paw print on the wall of a raccoon who sneaked in through the cat door to dine on some kitty food. I thought that was hilarious! It was potluck and there was a nice buffet for everyone. This same group of friends gathers once a year to rekindle, visit and talk about all that we've been doing for the past year. Some even bring their children. It is a group made up of mostly straight people or so I thought and that will come out later in this story as will the person.
My friend Norma and I got there late, as usual and they were already playing the white elephant game with Clint because he had tickets to a show that he had already made plans for and needed to leave for that. After settling in and greetings out of the way, it was time for a drink. I had one glass of red wine poured into a glass that was given by Gail complete with our names written on the flat part of the glass with a special marker. She also had a special aerator for the red wine to remove the tannin taste after first being poured. I didn't seem to taste any different, it was still good. After mingling, "talking story" and playing catch up, dinner was ready and enjoyed by the crowd. More wine flowed, dinner was finishing up and we commenced onto the white elephant gift giving event. Rules were made and off we went. It was a fun game. I ended up with a duck trivet, something that I needed since my newly remodeled kitchen did not officially have a trivet. As the evening was winding down, dessert and coffee were now on the table and people had to leave. We packed up "to go" containers for the rest of the left over food. While that was going on, I was talking to Gail and catching up on the year. She asked if I was seeing anyone. I told her, "Yes, I'm seeing someone and her name is Lynn". She looked at me in amazement and said, "I'm seeing someone too and it's Simone!" She was so giddy and elated for coming out to me and quickly added, "You're the first person I've told". She said that she wasn't even looking for this as a relationship and added that their pairing for the past two months has been beautifully blissful. I could see that she was very happy and had so much to say but because of setting, we were limited. After a big ecstatic hug and finally having someone to talk to of this new found journey in her life, I was glad that she could confide in me. From that conversation, I jumped to Sara and asked how her hubby Ronny was. She took me aside and said that her and Ronny was in the process of a divorce. I almost didn't believe my ears and thought for sure that their relationship would be a lasting one. I found out afterwards from Norma, that Ronny had cheated on her and had asked for the divorce. I used to think of this man as the sweetest and most quietest thing, now I don't know what to think. I could see the sadness in her face, the physical and emotional toll that she's going through and all this after losing her father to illness in the Philippine at the earlier part of this year. I gave her a big hug and offered my sympathies to her. After cleaning up, we settled in to the living room with the remaining women still there. The conversation ran the gamut of topics from Hersterectomies, colonoscopy, ailments, old paddle stories, Norma being a mean person in those days and still is, upcoming vacations, our lives and where we were going, nothing too intense and only scratched the surface. By this time, 11:30pm had rolled around and it was time to say our goodbyes. This time our hugs were longer and lingering and our goodbyes had a deeper meaning of friendship.

Savers

is another "thrift" type store and is only two blocks from me and what a convenience it is. I love it since I rarely buy clothes for myself because most of my money goes towards my mortgage, bills and my son. When I do buy clothes, I frequent Savers...a lot! Today is my "Paris" group's annual holiday party and I need something nice to wear instead of my usual jeans and t-shirt. I found quite a few things and carted them off. Going so early in the morning, you get your pick of the best things that they tagged and put up on racks and shelves. Plus it was purple tag day and everything associated with that was half off....Ka-ching! I did manage to get a few nice blouses, shirts, pant and shorts. Yes, shorts, being Hawaiian I wear shorts rain or shine, hot and cold weather...whenever.
It's a potluck party and I am making potato salad. It's one of the favorites among this crowd and easy to make. The eggs were done boiling by the time I got back from Savers and in went the potatoes. My "Paris" group that I'm referring to is my over 40 in age group of friends that I've known 20 plus years ago when I paddled Outrigger Canoes in San Francisco and have kept in touch since. Our particular demographic is that we are all 45 this year and try to celebrate with a big trip. At 40, five of us took a week long trip to Paris and Nice. Inspite of our differences, it was a fantastic vacation. This year was very busy with everyone going to school, work, laid off from work, starting a new job and other set-backs that we weren't able to secure a date or destination. We still have until the end of this month to vote on a destination. It might even be a trip up to Napa for wine tasting and spas or a winter casino trip up to Lake Tahoe. I don't know yet, but I'll bring it up at our event tonight.
Lynn is out shopping at the Flea market in Palo Alto and doing her part in the spirit of the holidays. This is the start of her concert week and ends next weekend, so she'll be very busy rehearsing. I am trying my best to stay out of the malls and doing my shopping online and taking advantage of those companies that offer free shipping. It's so much easier and less hassling than going out and fighting for parking, the gifts and the people. I just don't enjoy doing that anymore. My sweetie's last concert will be next week and I will be spending a weekend in Santa Clara, Saturday and Sunday. During that time, we'll exchange gifts, spend some much needed time together and celebrate the holidays. I'm looking forward to that time with her very much.