Planning a full day of shopping, Miss Firecracker invited me to come along, but, I was returning from my mini-vacay after picking up Oliver from puppy camp. Oliver was wiped out, as he always is. I can only imagine the fun times he has with new furry friends as Sweet Michelle spoils him rotten. We decided the next best thing would be to meet at the TeePee for dinner.
Miss Firecracker finds it fascinating that I usually order a hamburger and fries. I love H and F’s. Not at home, because I can never get the buns grilled just right, or the patty yummy enough. I’m always looking for a restaurant that has just the right combination of fresh bun and perfectly cooked patty, with crispy fries. Not huge, not small, just the right size. The TeePee has just that burger, so that is my go to meal. Miss F finds this funny. I guess it is peculiar.
There is never a lack of subjects to cover when Miss F and I get together. We, too, have the most interesting things in common. Weird things that solidify the fact that we understand one another. Period. There are no boundaries when we’re in discussions. I’m pretty sure the patrons next to us enjoy interesting eavesdropping. Could be a chocking hazard at some points in our conversation. I noticed the waitress making several rounds past our table. I wonder how much she pieced together.
We share a friendship that involved camping trips with our guys. After you’ve camped with us, you quickly become honorary family members, because you know too much. You find out things sitting at a campfire that are delicious and real. Miss F and I have had those times, sharing great discussions with VST and B&C (Baily’s and Coffee). We were a fan club of four, with our visits never long enough. It seems a blessed coincidence, although truly tragic, that we now travel through widowhood together.
It was Miss F that sold me on the good things about my new town. She was correct in her recommendation for VST and me. At the time, we were all alive and kicking, planning lots of get-togethers, continuing on our path of friendship and fun times. With Covid, it was impossible to visit with them after I moved in without VST. It was unthinkable that B&C died in August before I had even received a Welcome-Home hug from him.
As we visited over dinner, our conversations went to places that only seasoned wives would understand or have experienced. Our experiences were similar in many ways. B&C and VST were two of the most intelligent men you could meet. They were both vainly sexy, working a room with a glance, being chick magnets until the day they died. But it was obvious they each had a chick-a-dee that held their heart in her own heart. The sun rose and set on us in the eyes of B&C and VST. Period. Of that, there was no denying.
They could and did DRIVE US NUTS. Miss F and I can talk about those things, because we are the only ones that have that right. Telling her things private takes me back to the fact that VST and I were normally joined in an extraordinary union that brought two dynamic individuals together. But. We were still just a normal couple with normal problems that others have endured. As similarities are discovered, Miss F and I giggle, laugh, and sometimes leak tears. It’s a sweet way to validate that we did share something wonderful that’s gone.
By the end of the meal, an important point was shared. Yes. We miss them. Greatly. Passionately. Sorrowfully. And yet. We move forward because we must. We have chosen to leave behind the wake of Kleenex boxes and grasp the friendship we have which allows us to share constructive grieving. We are the LUCKIEST GIRLS to have met up with these two guys in the 1900’s. We did things other women would only wish they could. Blush-worthy and outrageous things with extraordinary men that loved us deeply. Now being blessed with a rare friendship, we are finding our way through widowhood into womanhood as the new Goddesses we are becoming. For that, lucky doesn’t even begin to cover it.
*Thank you, Miss F. You are my lifeline. My raft. My friend. I love you. J