Reunions II

I had dinner tonight with a friend from New York. 'Tis the season to catch up with girlfriends from the past, I guess, what with the elementary school reunion two weeks ago...But it's good. I always long for girlfriends when I go too long without them, but as with relationships of any sort, trying to force one is the worst idea of all.

I had an ex-boyfriend who was always trying to set me up on "playdates" with the girlfriends of his guy pals. They may have been cool women, but simply because someone else was trying to orchestrate the meetings for me -- it drove me nuts. I went a long time without girlfriends while I was in that relationship.

"S" was a friend I made during my second year in NY. At that time, I was an active member of a women's group that focused on nurturing ethical leadership skills in young(ish) women. It was founded by Naomi Wolf in her post Beauty Myth days and it marked a really vibrant, fun time in my life. There were four of us that had met at a retreat, and when back in the city we spent a lot of time together. Looking back, I guess we wanted madly to mix the Sex and the City lifestyle that we all inevitably desired (sans bank accounts and Manalo Blahniks, mind you) with our third wave feminism ideals. Maybe we were liberated, maybe we were nuts, it's hard to say.

We just wanted the best of both worlds. What's wrong with that?

So we would go have drinks at the outdoor bar in Union Square, then get grilled cheese sandwiches at the Corner Bistro. It was a good time.

Anyhow, summer of 2001 I moved down here, and "S" moved to Missouri to spend time with family and figure out what she wanted out of life.

And now she lives here.

Tonight we ate Greek food, and drank Greek wine and caught up on everything under the sun. I'm glad she's here. We went to Iota, where a singer I like (Emiliana Torrini) was performing, and listened to her close her set while enjoying a last drink. After the concert ended these old(er) men came over, and apparently were trying to hit on us. They were at least fifty-five. I'm not sure what they were doing there, actually.

Is that what it means to turn thirty? You suddently become a really hot commodity among the fifty and over set?