Lunch is the New Dinner.

I started this entry last week, and it was titled, "My last day of summer vacation."  The theme is the same, thankfully.  What I had written is as follows (edited only a teensy bit):

I've really enjoyed my time off, and wish I had more of it.  I've loved being home with Nina, prepping healthy dinners before picking Elena up, and even trying my hand at baking.  Actually, I had thought to title this blog differently and discuss my emergence as the newest Domestic Goddess.  Since so much of my domestic rein has been associated with a specific food blog, that theme will have to revisited in the near future.

This postpartum time around, however, my enjoyment in being away not only stems from connecting with my baby, but also in connecting with other women, many of whom are moms as well.  The cliques of high school don't end there, but really continue through life.  By senior year of high school, deeper divides start to form: going to college vs. not going to college.  Those who attend college often see the same cliques forming as in high school, but following graduation the differences deepen with the still in school vs. working groups.  A few years down the road, friendships often fork at the married vs. single juncture.  A few years after that is the kids vs. no kids--this one is huge and deserves a book.  Divorce, widowhood, remarriage, retirement, financial hardships, and so on are all major life changes that place us in different groups.

(Okay, that is as far as I got, and I think it was a bit of a tangent, but I thought it was interesting to consider and have left it as is, but will not explore that theme further.)

Back to connecting with people.  I lived on a dead end street growing up, with lots of families with kids around the same ages.  It was idyllic in many ways, really.  Riding bikes, playing "teenagers" and "aquarium" in our backyard, playing manhunt or tag, and so on and so on.  I loved it.  And I loved being the only girl (my sister and Melanie were the other girls, both five years younger than me and not so much involved in some of the Ferncrest goings on until later).  But come late elementary/middle school, I became really sad.  Crossing Smith Street for anything other than cheap candy and waiting for the bus were forbidded for my early bike-riding years, which meant alienation from all the kids who lived along Fruit Hill.  Maybe I'm dramatizing the situation a bit, but there were girl pairs/trios who grew up together all over: Lisa and Carly, Corinne and Amy, Amy and Lauren, Becky and Val, and so on.  I didn't have a girl pair, and frankly, it sucked.  I mean, being part of the Sensational Six was great, but I missed out on the day everyone got their matching bracelets and went to the movies.  *sigh*

Anyway, moving on, the Sensational Six (I know, just let it go, but bear with me) was really my last group of girlfriends, and that was elementary school.  I've been lucky enough to have some especially fabulous female friendships in my life, but they total three.  Four if you count my sister, which I don't, because I just take that one for granted (sort of--I'm acknowledging how much I appreciate her friendship though in actuality she has no choice but to be my bestie).  I've also been horrible at keeping in touch with people over the years, which doesn't help matters.

After five years in Tucson, I finally feel like I have a little group of girlfriends, and it's lovely.  I'm so thankful that those who have moved have returned, and those that considered leaving have stayed.  I am grateful for having an amazing job in which I feel supported personally and professionally, and one that allows me time to cultivate these relatively new friendships.  And I'm also happy that some of my friends have kids around the same ages as mine--it's been so helpful to me to vent, compare notes, share stories, etc.

As I've been sucked into mom-dom, our dinners out have become scant, and I can't remember the last time we met people out for cocktails sans kids.  Dinner and drinks were a big part of our pre-kids social life (second place = brunch and drinks, many times at our house), but now most of my socializing happens at lunch while Josh is at work (sucker).  Yes, lunch is the new dinner in my world.  So ladies, let's do lunch.