Those too, but Judy has something else in mind. Downsizing. No one could argue with the soundness of her goal which is to sell the house and move to a condo. After all, she doesn't need all that room now that she's alone and married to no one but her golf clubs and her Rossignols.
Judy's got it made with her two ski trips a year amongst others. Thanks to Tiger for this thing called economic golfcession but I doubt that Judy will even worry about that. As soon as the sunny weather sets in, Maria and Celine will be there to make the journey with her. Notice how I said sunny, not warm. The cold doesn't seem to faze these golf addicts that's why.
So here we are invited to Judy's for dinner and an evening of fun and games or so we're promised. Rather than fuss about it, I decided to join all seven of the Ya-Yas. Declining will simply not do the trick trust me. Just so you know I've also graduated from being a moron to being the butt of jokes at their card games.
A hostess gift wasn't an issue, it's trying to remember to bring it with us that is the problem. Sometimes that ginkgo doesn't kick in, this time it did. That's the cheesecake that Maria already baked for our board meeting. The meeting was rescheduled because Alex begged off, all because his eyelids remained shut after taking the red-eye from Vegas the night before.
Ah so! You took a vacation, we labored here while you're gone and now you want to reschedule? And how about this cake? We can't let this go to waste. And that's why I said yes to Judy's invite (just kidding!). Talk about labor of love, Maria had to make an extra trip to the store for a pint of strawberries. Her usual blueberry topping could send Judy to anaphylactic shock and we wanted none of that.
"Is this your farewell party?" Celine asked. I couldn't keep a straight face when Judy jolted with a "No, I'm not old and dying yet. It's a farewell to my house". Oops! Who said farewell is synonymous to death? I signaled Celine not to push Judy's button, at least not until after we've stuffed our faces with that ham she was baking. She skillfully managed to quell Judy's annoyance so we ended up enjoying her delicious ham served with sides of mushrooms, green beans with slivered almonds, sweet potatoes and potatoes.
I rushed to the kitchen and scooped out the drippings from the pan and to everyone's surprise poured some of that into the several pieces of ham on my plate. Ever heard of au jus on ham? Join me and my weird palate! That was a good meal, you outdid yourself again Judy.
It was Carol's first time to meet Celine all it took was one question to get her going. "What did you do before retiring?" Air force, art school, teaching, social work, raise a kid, etc. Well, some are really born to be big. Is there something else that you haven't done, Celine? After this game of getting to know you, we moved on to cards and games.
As if emerging from a deep coma, I panicked at the sight of a deck of cards and three more games I'm not familiar with. They called them Left right and center, 99 and Things. Joan rattled off the rules and as expected of me, nothing registered. You see I have no skills for following instructions, so let's just get with it with a dry run then I'll wing it. Thank you Sheila for warning me that Bridge, a totally different animal, can mean frustration for me. That's helpful!
Things was fun, a no-brainer and most of our answers were hilarious. Pick a topic, get everyone's response, read them out loud and guess who said what. Just say whatever comes to mind. "What tires you out?" That was a breeze for Dorothy. The perfect question. It's a gimme. She's the marrying type, I'd say the most among us, three times to be exact and she's such a good sport about it. And guess who (ahem) won the first game? The newbie, yours truly.
I guess I know my friends enough to be able to predict their answers; trouble is they can also read me like a book. I reserved my half-baked sentiments about the other two games; Left right and center sounded like the provocative political radio program and it's not, and 99 is boring. It's no wonder everyone wandered off to their side-bar chats leaving Carol our mistress of ceremonies with no choice but to hold up that placard that reads "Take a f_____n' card" whenever somebody forgets to grab one from the pile!
I tell you these ladies are a riot, but they're alive and witty. Thanks for the company. Just in time, since I'm starting to turn to Jeanne Robertson for some laughs to shake off the dark winter moods. Thanks to Chantal, I guess this is what they do in Texas to beat the blues. Check out that Robertson woman, she is hysterical. But I wouldn't trade you guys for a Southern humorist.
On a serious note, Carol and Judy are both looking into moving out of their respective homes into either a Co-op or Condo. It won't be easy giving up all that space that they enjoy now. And the memories attached to all the belongings that they won't be able to take with them, they'll stay forever.
Whatever Judy's plan is, I'm not her daughter Karen so I'm not part of it. I know I'm not inheriting this miniature ceramic house which is part of her collection. You better check my purse on my way out!
