Birds of a Feather.

poooll coucchchcheee buffetttteeeee

Have you ever tried to follow a conversation with 15 women in the same room?

Okay.  Let me back up.  Today, we had our Annual 4th of July Party for the Ohio Cardinals.  Not the State Bird…. although it is.  These Ohio Cardinals are a group of women who happen to be  Championship Ball Players.  I capitalized that because they deserve all caps.   Mary is a member of this team.

These Ladies are All-American Softball Players.  In their day, they were the best of the best. And now that they are turning silver, they are still the best of the best.

They have been through it too.  There have been back operations, and more hip and knee replacements  than I can count.  There was more titanium at our party than in the entire International Space Station.

At any rate, each year, we have a 4th of July Party and they come.  This year was no different.  Rain or Shine.  Today… no shine, just rain.

So back to the conversation.  Fifteen women in one room conversing.  Let me clarify, first of all, there is NEVER just one conversation.  It can be upwardly to 30 conversations, give or take a few.

The exchange of information is intensely accelerated.  And here is the thing.  As I mentioned earlier, we are getting older, and grayer.  Some of these ladies don’t hear quite as proficiently as they used to.

But in the fervor of the multi-conversation arena, these ladies hear like Superman.  They can grab a random comment from clear across the room, break their own conversation, and respond to  the  random remark, 20 feet away.  Without blinking.

It reminds me of the classic gunfights in the Old West.  The two guys, pacing off, in the middle of the the dirt street, with saloons, and banks lining the boardwalks.   They turn around to shoot each other in the duel, but lookout!  There is a guy in the balcony with a rifle.  So Mister Gunslinger fires up to the balcony and shoots back down to the the street, in a millisecond.  Blam. Blam. Just like that.

This is how these ladies shoot the comments around.

It is a great deal  of fun.  Not only to try and follow this, but also to witness the shear skill and agility with which they  discourse at length.  Profound, really.

It is golden.  And so are they.  Well… and titanium.

I don’t get to see them often enough, but when I do spend time with them, it brings me great joy.  They are funny, and smart, and quick.  They are caring, and cool.

It just makes me realize, once again, how blessed I am to have friends in my life such as these.  Yep. The best of the best.

Just don’t ring any kind of bell around a lady named Cynthia.  I have given you fair warning.


 

“Sometimes people are beautiful.
Not in looks.
Not in what they say.
Just in what they are.”
― Markus Zusak, I Am the Messenger

 

But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”
― E.B. White

“A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan