No correction comments please...I took 7 years of French. What inspired me was a great post by Rock Star Mommy about bad grammar and mispronunciation. I read the post and every one of the over 300 comments! Yes, RSM's blog has a slightly larger readership than mine.
My purposeful mis-translation is because this post is truly an ode to my friends and a recognition that they are like water (eau to the Francais-challenged!)...I need them to survive, they quench my thirst for connection and they even make the bitterest of pills go down easier.
Yesterday was an unusual day in that I saw everyone in my core group of friends in one day! These three women are the friends I am in touch with almost daily whether by phone, e-mail or getting together. In just a few short months, they have become "sisters of my heart" - (I don't know who to attribute that to. Was it Brooke? Wendy? Someone said that about me and Stacy and it stuck in my head.)
At around 7:30 a.m. the cell phones started ringing as we each made our way through elementary school drop-off ("No ma'am, I was NOT talking on my cell phone in the carpool line!") and it soon became appararent that instead of the miscellaneous 2 or 3, it was entirely possible that we were going to have a "Coffee Quorum" at Starbucks (Stacy called it a Minyan, but that was after two Margaritas and I'm not even Jewish and know that a Minyan is ten...but I got her point). By 8:00, a collection of talls and grandes, lattes and dopio campanas (that Laura has just got to be SO international!) and purses and car keys cluttered our little corner of Starbucks. Now, if you ever walk into Starbucks and see the following assembled:
(L-R: Laura, Vicky, Stacy, Di)
Not to mention the bonus participants:
Immediately order your coffee "to-go" or secure a table far away because there will be loud and excessive laughter, inappropriate conversation and occasional screeches from O for more "cake" (Laura is mortified that she hasn't mastered the French pronunciation of "croissant"...but reassures herself that O's insistence on calling it "cake" may just be her inner Marie Antoinette expressing herself). As we talked and quaffed, I thought how remarkable it is that this diverse group pulled itself into a foursome a la Sex in the City, but with a lot less sex, more practical shoes (usually) and oh, those worrisome little creatures...CHILDREN!
We have a collective fantasy of a commune of us and our children, with husbands allowed to visit occasionally. We have Vicky who dresses professionally every day and can be counted on to bring in our paycheck, Stacy who owns a clothing store (even people in communes need to be fashionable!) and doesn't mind going to the grocery store as much as I do, Laura who can cook (I mean really cook...better than restaurants) and me...well, I've kind of convinced them that I can handle the bill-paying, etc. but now I've really secured my position by perfecting Stacy's favorite Margarita!
To return to the water metaphor...what a beautiful way to start a day, showered in the conversation and laughter of these women, each of whom provides me with a drop or two of what my soul needs and collectively form the waves of love and friendship that wash over me as I walk down the beach of my life.
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