Besides my dear sweet mother and several aunts and my grandmothers there are only two women that I've said "I want to be her when I grow up." One is Doris, the other is Joan.
I met Joan at the coffeehouse. She came almost every afternoon with her own mug and stuff to read. She was one of the main reasons we brewed a pot of decaffeinated flavored coffee each day. She is very stylish- and not in the way that most 80-something women are. She wears cool glasses and I love her silver jewelry.
I always invite her to my annual Saint Valentine's Day party and we've talked about getting together for brunch for years. Joan finally rounded up Novella, Marcella and I for brunch today.
Her home is beautiful- on the property of a former Catholic all-girls high school that I attended my freshman year (the school closed, nothing to do with me- swear). Her house is full of wonderful art work, books, photographs and memorabilia.
Joan is up on current events and has a real-life experience and history to back up her opinions.
She and her husband ran a Kentucky Fried Chicken for years - she's familiar with hard work and long hours. Even though she and her husband have been separated for decades she visits him everyday in the assisted living facility for Alzheimer's patients. Their only child, a son was killed in a car accident years ago.
She prepared an amazing brunch- sausage frittada, spinach and stuffed tomatoes. And two desserts- pumpkin pie and cranberry puddingy something - both with freshly whipped cream. I could have stayed there talking all day. And Novella and Marcella stayed until the afternoon.
You guessed it- Cinderella Nora had to go to work at Marigold.
I know that people don't have amazing brunches with wonderful people in beautiful settings every Sunday, and I hated to race out of this one.
I've been feeling super bogged down lately. My poor house is a mess, all I seem to do is race in for a few minutes, drop a bunch of junk on the floor, and race out. Or like last night (or rather this morning)- get home from work at 3:00, shower, dry my hair and sleep for four and a half hours and do it all over again.
I'm declaring 2009 the Year of Nora Slowing Down on Volunteer Stuff. I know that sounds a little selfish, but its someone else's turn.
The hard part will be saying no.
9 comments:
Sounds like you had a wonderful time at the brunch. I feel like you, I'm working, sleeping, working. I don't accomplish anything around the house all week, by the weekend, I have errands to run and I never get all my chores caught up!
Sounds like a wonderful brunch.
I know what you mean. I'm feeling the year-end squeeze already. I did get caught up on a project that I was 5 months behind on. I got my barn painted. And tomorrow I may be buying a car (another Intrepid...boring). Oh, and there's something about a corn harvest going on?
You travel with good people Nora. I could never have been invited. Your host has this thing about people who's name ends with the letter A.
Love Cliffa.
Not selfish at all - if you say no to some stuff you can yes to other stuff, like brunch with your friends. Then have the time to truly enjoy it. So for 2009 - Just say NO.
We will be checking.
Ralph
Nora
Oh yeah, did you forget to mention the Bloodymary's or just hope we wouldn't see them?
Ralph
Here you go: "I'm sorry, I can't, I have to babysit the twins that day/night/weekend."
I won't even hold you up to actually doing it. The twins are going to be my excuse to say no for many years, I feel you should get to share.
Oh that brunch sounds heavenly. Sorry you had to leave early. The "babysit the twins" excuse sounds like a winner. It's nice of Bad Influence Girl to share them.
The brunch sounds and looks wonderful. How pretty the table setting is, and how YUMMY the food looks!
I'm glad you took time to eat and visit with the ladies before you had dash away.
I think that a 2009 slow down for Nora is a great idea.
Saying no to some things will mean you'll be able to say yes to some things you'd like to do.
No reason to feel guilty about that.
You KNOW you'll still be saying yes to some volunteer work, but I think it would be good for you to say yes to getting an average of eight hours sleep per night.
:-)
You can practice saying No now and
get into the habit! I don't see how you keep such a schedule! I'm afraid I'd fall asleep at work. I can do without a little sleep but then somewhere along the line I have to catch up on my zzzz's.
Joan sounds like a lovely person. The table is so pretty and the food looks and sounded so good!! I enjoy that kind of brunch but I like to linger and talk too. That just makes it all better somehow!
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