The Girls

     Had my girls lunch today. It was pretty successful, I think. The food was fresh and tasty, like I knew it would be (thank you, Italy). The ladies who didn't know each other really seemed to hit it off. And it was a lovely, diverse, and interesting group of women from four different countries. All of which kinda made me sad.

     What?

     First of all, I couldn't even approach a lunch like that in London, which is allegedly where I live. Don't have a dining room -- not to mention a terrace with an astounding view of a lake. Kitchen table isn't big enough for the number I had -- and the food I laid out -- not even close. And after you're sitting in the kitchen there, what do you look at, the stove?  

      And then there's the limited guest list. Who would be on it?  

      At the end of the meal, a group of the women were excitedly exchanging cellphone numbers and email addresses to start a book group.  

     Great. Yet another book group I'm going to miss out on. I already have the one I started where I used to live in the States, which I think is going fabulously without me. It almost killed me when they dropped me from their email list (why did they do that?).  

     Now my lunch guests here on my side of the hill are gonna start one too. And I get to miss that as well. 

     Jealousy is not pretty. 

     Because the ladies are all lovely and sensitive, though, they quickly noticed how I felt. And since I was the host, and introduced them all to each other, they felt bad. 

     One of them put her arms around me and and said, "you're going to be part of it too, whenever you come, whenever you're here," she said to me. 

     I stuck my lower lip out in a pout. 

     "Aw," another one piped in, also hugging me. "We're going to put you on the email list and tell you everything we're reading. So when you're not here, you can read it too, in London. And email us what you thought."

     Wonderful. Can't wait.