Thursday, October 30, 2014

Thirty Years Later, Women Will Be Girls

By Kelly Sinon

  Recently, four girls, now women, sat down for the first time, all together, in over 12 years. The group has been friends for over 30 years, drifting in and out of each other's lives as time and life brings each of them on different, yet similar paths.
  Each of the women has been married. One, divorced and happily remarried (X2), One, now happily single, and two, in it for the long haul, enjoying the journey. They have 50+ years of marital experience to draw upon for solicited and friendly, unsolicited advice and collectively, between them, there are 8 children. The kids range in age from 2 to 22.
   As you can imagine, anything touted as "Girls' Weekend" will have it's share of squealing with delight, somber moments, realizations and copious amounts of delicious ...and some not so delicious, (sorry about that wine, guys) alcohol.
  What we were most unprepared for, was the amount of adult (no, not that kind...well, a lot of that kind, too) conversation and debates about such grown up things as infant car seat laws, drug testing for welfare recipients, real estate and immigration. I was impressed that as we grew up and formed our own opinions, none of us were so set in our way of the world, that we were unable to see another point of view. Each one of us brought to the table, our own experiences and opinions based upon them. We are friends for lots of reasons. Not the least of which is respect and interest in why/how the others think of things.
  I cherish my friend who is adores anything Victoriana or WWII Land Girl and makes her own gorgeous, authentic costumes for events, and frequently has starring roles in things like the Renaissance Faire and Dickens Faire during Christmas (side note: You must mark your calendars to make a day of it in The City to go to the Cow Palace to see it transformed into Dickensean wonder, complete with snow and spiced beverages....and maybe a cheeky show, that includes beautiful girls in full costume. And by that, I mean corsets, galore. And, oh! Her son has the leading role as Oliver, this year! ).
   My well-traveled friend, who has been so lucky to get to live in two European countries for years, is an amazing dessert specialist (no, seriously... she makes everything from scratch and it's all cookbook/magazine-worthy and says things like, "So, we were in Spain..." and then giggles at how pretentious she thinks it makes her sound, as a prelude to another funny or entertaining tale, while she stuffs her mouth full of nachos.
   My fantastic friend, who has the motherly patience of a saint, inherited from her own mother; the kind of patience I wish I had. She has sacrificed her beautiful dining room with the stately fireplace, to act as a huge sewing room in order to make countless dresses, complete with themes, mind you, by hand for her daughter's Rainbow Girl events, and she never shies away from chaperoning the many giggling, screaming girls to out of town venues. In fact, she revels in it. She is chauffer, wife and Mom extraordinaire.
  We were astonished to realize that each of us had at least one representative from our group at each of our weddings over the years, no matter where it took place. We have been present in each other's lives for major milestones; births and deaths. Sadness, confusion, joy, anger; you name it, we've been there.
  Spending a weekend with friendships like that, renews my soul and reminds me that I'm not alone. These three people know me, and have known me since before I got married and had kids, a job and a mortgage. When I aced a history test, or completely failed a math class; giggled into the night and compared notes on first kisses, commiserated over bad boyfriends, snuck clove cigarettes and wine coolers, and played practical jokes on each other, our parents, and our neighborhoods.
  Our Girl's Weekends can become more frequent, now that we are all (lower 48, even) stateside, finally. I think our neighborhoods should prepare themselves. The Triangle is back!

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Kelly Sinon can be reached at sksinon@aol.com You can find her at Bev Mo, searching for better wine.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

There's Laziness Behind All That Hard Work

By Kelly Sinon

  I'm trying to make it a habit to get one household chore done every evening, after work. I like a clean house and a tidy yard. I also like doing nothing on weekends.
  For instance, yesterday, I mowed the front and back yards, and used the leaf blower to annoy my neighbors, right before the dinner hour ...I mean, clear newly fallen autumn leaves from the driveway.
   I only felt slightly guilty about picking up Take & Bake pizzas for dinner on my way home. No, there wasn't enough time in my evening to do yard work, make a balanced meal and flop into the patio chair of my choice, while reading Real Simple (Okay, fine. Cosmopolitan.) magazine on my tablet.
   Tonight, it's laundry, as I make baked Panko crusted pork chops and stuffing (as I finish reading Real Simple magazine (Cosmopolitan) on my tablet.
  We're all products of our upbringing, and this apparently, was my take away.
   I'm going to quote my father, who might sound like he's channeling 1955 when he asked my mother what she did around the house all day.
  "It's not like you have to watch the clothes go around and around."
(My husband had better start running after a line delivered like that.)
   In Dad's defense, he couldn't understand why one load of laundry seemed to require strict supervision as it made the journey from the bottom of the dryer, to the top, to the bottom, to the top...you get the idea.
  It's the best of both worlds; I can multi-task. I'm not great at a lot of things, but that is one thing at which I am very adept. Especially, when it includes reading at the same time I'm doing anything.
  "But Kelly," you may ask, "Why are you mowing the lawn, when you have such an amazing husband?"
  Frankly, my answer depends on the day you ask me.
  One day, I may say, "Because I really like being outside in the early evenings to unwind, and sometimes, I have a hard time being still, so I get to be productive and be outside. Win/Win."
  Another day, I may say," I don't need no man to do my work." (with snapping of fingers for emphasis.)
  Of course, the next time the question is posed, it may go like this, "That's a very good question, but If I waited for him to mow the @!%&-ing lawn...(insert diatribe here)."
  The beauty of this, is that all of those reasons are true.
  He's probably thoroughly confused.
  So tonight, as my hands... and pork chops are crusted in Panko, and I'm skimming Real Cosmo, I'll take multi-taking to Olympian levels, by thinking of what I can do Monday night. Did I mention that Friday night is the start of my Weekend of Nothing?______________________________________________________________________

Kelly Sinon can be reached at sksinon@aol.com. 
You may also find her in her favorite patio chair, mowing lawns, binge cleaning bathrooms, and basically just waiting for Friday.