My Friday Friends

I've come to think of Fridays as friends day.

My first stop was the cleaners. I began going there a few years ago because my then future wife patronized it. I didn't have much cleaning back then because that was in the middle of my caregiving. My "uniform" then was pretty minimal and surely did not require a cleaners.

Over the years I've come to know the people who work at the cleaners. I go there 2 or 3 times a week. I don't take many clothes at a time. They know me now. When I walk in they write my name on the tickets without me having to tell them. They know I want my shirts without starch and I like my jeans to be dry cleaned instead of washed. We greet each other like old friends. If there's a problem they fix it and I don't hold it against them. I wouldn't really think of going somewhere else.

I drove over to Starbucks next. On my iPhone there is this little notes application. That's where I write down the names of the baristas. But usually the morning crew is the same and we all know each other. They know stuff about me and I know stuff about them - not big, important things but little, unimportant things. They know my drink and they fix it for me without me having to tell them.

There's about 8 guys over at one end of the room. They are members of one family and they all sit together every Friday. So I see them nearly every Friday and we joke around some with each other. When I walked over to see them this Friday one of them said that I had increased their average IQ by joining them. Everyone laughed. Another time before someone asked me if I had any good words and I didn't and he said he'd give me some and so he said "above ground." It took me a while to figure that out but when I did I laughed out loud.

Pretty soon my brother came in and we sat at a table and talked and just sat with each other. We waited a while on my son because he was going to join us. But he was delayed and so finally we left together.

Another friend and I had a lunch appointment. He and his son were over at Home Depot picking up some stuff. My son and I went to pick him up and then his son later joined us. We went to this quaint little place called Two Olives. It is an old school building that was built in 1928.

I had classes in the old building when I was in grade school and junior high. The friend we were meeting there and his partner bought the old building a few years ago and began remodeling. The first floor is done now and its really nice. Two Olives is a great place to eat.

Our friend joined us and we all sat there together and enjoyed the food but more the conversation. I noticed our little group spanned three decades in age. We talked about all sorts of things but nothing really of earth saving importance I suppose.

After lunch we all returned to our respective lives.

Later I was thinking about the great blessing of what I had experienced this day. No great discoveries were made and no big deals negotiated and nothing really important at all happened. But I think it is this kind of day that I will remember and savor and appreciate for a long while.