The three’s in life. Three on a match. The I love you’s. See you later. Wait 3 weeks, 3 months, heard that last night. Three friends, 3 couples awkward combo. “Would you Rather?”- shout out to David G. The could be betters, the not right nows and the you never knows- add them to the list. One more time. Bad news comes in three’s- oy. Let it be. How are you? Omg- says so much. Away we go- can you believe and not right now, use them often. Just one minute, you’re kidding me, one more day, one more hour, one more second. 

So where am I going with “three little words?” Last eve after one of our “Julia” sit downs, which we have several times a year, we got into our respective cars and went our separate ways. The Julia’s is the the acronym for “Just Us Ladies Into Aging.” We are a group of long ago friend’s ushering decades of time. Some of us know each other from our formative fifth grade days and some since College years. We have been gathering, with regularity, for the better part of the last “three”years. I have blogged about it before and with luck on my side will continue to do so ad Infinitum. 

We show up and ostensibly tuck ourselves into the time capsule that has hardened around our softness. We see our age spots, for a fleeting moment and then optically rearrange our perspectives. We are young again in our eyes only. Time and life has shrouded us and so we landed on the Mazel Line. And I quote Carole King once again- “We are the lucky ones. Some people never get to do all we got to do. Now and forever, I will always think of you.” 

So back to our Salmon with mustard sauce and memories unfurled in sound bites. We relish talking over each other, wanting to fit everything in over our one dessert for the table evening. So as we say adieu to summer, grab a mint at the door,  we gear up for our long good-bye. In family style tenderness, our embrace laced with love, we hug as we’ve done for 50 years plus. We are a group of six- hmmm! 3 double downed. So in around 3 months with Lady Luck on our side – we will meet up, arrange our place at our proverbial table and maybe order the chicken Susan suggested this time.

The risk that we would not go through life as sisters, cousins, friends was always there. Small risk as “family” is supposed to be the everything destination. When actions thunder louder than words we pick up our Barbie Dolls and go home. We threw the spaghetti against the wall. Some pieces stuck, as were the odds, the rest fell to the floor. Hold on to the pieces that stuck- make a sauce and spread it over the pieces we can claim as ours.We learn who our friends are quickly through joy and tragedy. We get confused when people behave differently than we have when the tables were turned. Expectations get us into trouble. Reality is a hard pill to swallow. So we lick our hopefully not too deep wounds and find a seat that is always waiting at the right table.

We hold no grudges as it takes away from our pleasure. We learn the hard lesson of lose in places where winning was a close given. Embracing knowledge is no easier through hard lessons learned just more precious. We are apt not to make the same mistake again. Adage strong- “Don’t go to the butcher if you want flowers.”