"Oh darn!" Lisa yelled as she glanced at the digital clock in the car. "Why can't I ever be on time!" Her good friend, Sara, was visiting from DesMoine and had invited her to a soiree (Margarita-fest) at a relatives home. The party was to end at 5:00 and it was now 5:10 p.m. She was 20 minutes away from the party house.
Lisa grumbled as she sat in her car at the red light. To add insult, it was beginning to drizzle. She so wanted to see Sara and get one of her fantastic hugs! Sara and Lisa had been friends for many years. Their daughters had gone to school with each other. Their friendship blossomed because of their girls, and grew even deeper when they later worked at the same preschool.
Sara's husband had been transferred to DesMoine some years earlier. It was a very difficult move, not only for Sara, but for all the girlfriends she left behind. Oh, sure, they spoke on the phone, and even emailed each other, but nothing could beat the "real thing" of face-to-face girlfriend love.
The weekend passed and Lisa felt bad about missing the party. She meant to call, but time got away from her until Monday.
"I'll give her a call, or send off an email tonight" Lisa promised herself. She had several errands to run after work, and then needed to stop off at the house to pick up something. As she walked into the kitchen, the phone rang. Lisa checked the caller ID, as she always does, and saw that it was a friend who also knew Sara.
"Hello" Lisa said, thinking she would be speaking to the Caller ID owner.
"Hello, Lisa?" said a most warm and familiar voice.
"Sara...how are you? I'm so glad you called! Listen, I feel horrible about missing the party last week! How long will you be here? Can I see you before you leave? How are you? How are the girls?" rambled Lisa.
"Oh, that's okay" replied Sara, "I'm great. Three more days. Yes. Fine. Fine. Say, a few of us are going to meet for drinks at Mi Casa in about 10 minutes. Do you think you can join us? I know it's last minute, but I would love to see you!"
"Are you kidding me?" shrieked Lisa. "I'll be right over!"
Oddly enough, two cars full of girlfriends pulled up to Mi Casa at the same time. They all screamed with delight and they group hugged each other. When they were inside the restaurant, Lisa gave Sara her warmest hug, and got back the best "I'm glad to see you" hug ever!
The waiter brought chips and salsa and the girls toasted each other with their fancy umbrella drinks. Then, as everyone began talking at once, Sara & Lisa looked at each other and began to laugh.
"Oh, how I've missed you" smiled Lisa. "Where do I begin? You look marvelous!" joked Lisa. The two went on and on laughing loudly as they reminisced. They had both become quite fond of one of the elementary school teachers, who was a prankster with a wicked sense of humor. He became Monsignor to them, and they became Sister Sara and Sister Lisa to him. Over the years they each would sign birthday cards to each other with their religious names. The whole idea was really quite hilarious since the three were well-seasoned sinners, and had already made their reservations to fry in hell.
By now the umbrella drinks were beginning to take effect, and everyone was quite giddy. They all took pictures of each other acting as if they were at a high school prom. The waiter just smiled as he brought more chips. It was getting late and no one really wanted to leave.
"I've got to go," Lisa said. "I need to get dinner started so it will look like I did something today!" They all chuckled because they were all thinking the same thing!
After another big group hug, the girlfriends blew kisses to each other and made their way to their cars. Lisa smiled and waved as the others drove away.
"It's a good day," she thought "when the merry-go-round stops and life takes over for a little while!"
