Girls' Night Redux

For the six years after college before Jacob and I got together, I was a seriously committed single girl. A few guys and dates came (and promptly went), but they weren't what I - or most of my friends - would have labeled a priority. We had other ways to be spending our time, like working long hours, decorating our homes with swap meet finds, new paint colors and gigantic sale-item mirrors. We had charities, parties, dinners and vacations. Everything was girlfriends: day or night. Things are different now for lots of reasons (no house, no steady work, little shopping, few restaurants), but there are a couple of things I'm lucky are still around in addition to my wildly attractive, sweet and considerate husband: vacations being one and girlfriends being the other.

One of the highlights of the week was talking on the phone to a girlfriend who, due to all of our crazy activities and her work schedule is pretty hard to pin down. If our plaster walls weren't so thick, I'd have disturbed the entire apartment building, I'm sure, with the maniacal laughter so characteristic of our friendship. Another phone date is planned with the BFF from back home and, frankly, it's so comforting knowing that they're still there and still there for me.

But even those reassurances aren't enough when you need to get out and away with some friends now. So last night, Ellen, Leigh, Miriam and I took leave of the boys and headed out for a girls night. It's not the same as home, but delicious Indian food, and chic mountaintop hotel sheesha bar aren't too shabby. Not to mention the talking...and the laughter.