Linda is the first friend I met after moving to California. One Sunday morning I was sitting on the patio with my coffee and the paper and came across an article about a website for women. The website is called The Girlfriends Cafe and the article mentioned how it was a great site for women to meet other women in similar situations that they might be in. So, thinking I'd check things out, I logged on to do a little site exploring. However, in order to explore, you had to join. I filled in the appropriate boxes, made up an ID name and was on my way. The site has an area where you can enter your zip code, pick a 'mile radius' and then find women who are in your area. After all these profiles come up, you can send a message to the 'friend' of your choice. Laughs, I have to admit that it sounded like I was on some kind of female dating site but I explored the site before actually sending anyone a message. Admittedly, at this point, I was desperate for friends and someone to talk to.
I found one person who lived in La Quinta. I sent her a note and we met for coffee a few days later. Lynsay said, "Mom, you have a play date!" The woman was very nice, albeit a bit older than me. We had absolutely nothing in common. After not really giving this venture my all, I decided to toss in the towel. A few weeks later, I had "girlfriend mail". A few days after that, Linda and I met for a coffee at a Starbucks on El Paseo and we became instant friends. It's amazing how we connected and have so much in common.
We try to have dinner at least once a week but sometimes that will end up being every other week. Whenever we get together, we usually find ourselves bent over laughing at one thing or another. I'm thankful for her friendship; without it, I'd probably have packed my bags and headed back to Omaha before this first year in California was even up. We already have stories that we tell about our nights out but I think our favorite story is the night we had dinner at Tommy Bahama's and then walked around El Paseo.
We were hitting store after store, and ended up at Harry & David's. The two guys working that night were the nicest guys, obviously gay and totally fun to talk to. Next thing I know, Linda is knocking a shelving unit over, at which point, I proceeded to act like I had no idea who she was. Once we made it up to pay for our purchases, another customer came in and she happened to be employed at Saks. Linda launched into how Saks 'profiles' people, but especially her because she's Hispanic. I always laugh when she talks about this so after leaving Harry & David's I dragged her to Saks. We walked through the doors and were instantly followed (discreetly, of course) by an employee. We took our time strolling around, oohing and aahing over bags and shoes. I now tell her that they don't profile because of race, they profile because of money. Next time you're at a Saks, pay attention to see how quickly one of their employees rush over to you to offer assistance. Not a one of them asked if we needed to look at anything. Gee, was it that obvious that we wouldn't be buying those $800 Jimmy Choo pumps or that $1,800 Dolce & Gabbana tote? I guess next time we need to not be so obvious. *grins*
It's nice to have a friend around to hang out with, to laugh with. It's true, our girlfriends make life so much more fun.
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