GIRLFRIENDS

old friends sat on their park bench like bookends,
a newspaper blown through the grass
falls on the round toes of the old shoes of the old friends
old friends, winter companions
the old men lost in their overcoats,
waiting for the sunset
the sounds of the city sifting through trees
settle like dust on the shoulders of the old friends
~Paul Simon

Last weekend was my birthday weekend. Papa and I spent it quietly, soberly at last, after all the wining and dining of the past several weeks. We had a nice Japanese dinner, saw a film afterwards and went to bed.

The following morning, we were up early for our own individual itineraries... Papa to a golf tournament with his old buddy, Mon, and me off shopping... with Mon's wife, Marlene, a girlfriend from long ago, and one with whom I haven't spent times like this with in a long, long while.

We used to be together all the time, back in the Philippines. We'd shop like this together, celebrate our husband's birthdays together, go out of town or just hang out. We even learned to play tennis together... or more accurately, she played and I ambled or stumbled along, whatever the situation called for.

And then things got difficult in our own individual lives and as these things go, we got too busy. And then we moved to Singapore and she and Mon moved to LA. When we moved to Southern California, she had to move back to the Philippines.

But all's well that ends well. We're both here now. Life is a little easier. And although we can get really busy with jobs and life, we're able to have these moments. Old girlfriends... they're the ones who will know you before you've become all polished and cleaned up, they've seen your snot, they know you inside and out... and will still call you by name.

I haven't realized how much I've missed being with an old girlfriend... until now.

Marble # 1766