Preserve Your Memories, They're All That's Left You

I park and walk in hoping to not look too near-sighted and loser-ish while I find Toni and Del.

Toni darts to my side the moment I walk in. They are in the bar area among throngs of people. It is a good crowd.  They have clearly had a few belts before I arrive. And have found a few old friends of their own. Both of which warmly greet me, and in succession, buy me a decent beer. I love men for this. Girls never do that.

It is so nice to be with Toni and Del. It is like coming home. We'd met when we were young but not children.  We were at each other's weddings. Endured job changes with each other. Navigated fertility problems and new babies together. Attended our father's funerals.  We've put on a lot of miles at each other's sides.

Toni and I had run into each other at the local department store recently. She straight from the gym with no makeup on. Me straight from the track with Hil and also sweaty and sans makeup. We'd barely recognized each other. Hil had thought we were nuts.

During that brief encounter where we were both buying coffee K-cups, we'd discussed J's death, our kids academic woes, our mothers, the arrival of facial hair, and Scott having vanished. Toni had peppered the conversation with her signature wide-eyed "Shut up!" about a thousand times. Clearly we had a lot to catch up on.

When the two gentlemen friends leave and I figure out how Toni and Del manage to be out with out their twin girls, I fill in the details that I'd skipped in the Readers Digest abridged version of the Scott story.  Del makes a few kind suggestions about what might have happened. Toni is more vicious. Some men need to be castrated based on stupidity. Clearly I am a Prize. I need to be cautious and choosy and be my naturally fabulous self. I am smart and confident and I have great boobs. The world of fabulous men will stand up and take notice the minute I am on the move.

Soon enough, they have to go pick up their girls. They are at the same school event that Hil is attending. Only I have no pickup obligation.  Toni sends Del to get them and says she'll go with me to one of the four local bars near our homes.

Del agrees and Toni and I head out. And it is as if we are twenty-two again. She lights a cigarette and tells me I still have the best legs ever. I ask about her insane sister and we laugh about her particular brand of drama.  She is howling that I drive a stick shift. I am in hysterics that Del is calling on the phone for us to stop so he can get a cigarette from her and she's already spraying perfume in my car so it doesn't smell.

And as I am driving through the parking lot we are both laughing to the point of tears.

And that is the beauty of very old friends who know every beat of your heart, even when they haven't seen you in years.