A Week of Country & Classy

This evening will be the first one in almost a week that I will not be out on the town, so to speak. The activities actually started at home last Wednesday. A women’s small group meets at my house on Wednesday nights and this past week was our last official meeting for the year. We will get together once in November or rather they will since I will be out-of-town and then once in December for a Christmas party. Currently there are 18 women in our group who love to talk and laugh so Wednesday nights my house is full of life. I love it!

Thursday night was dinner at Olive Garden with friends followed by a movie, More than Funny with comedienne Michael Jr. It was a much-needed time of belly laughter and laughing till you cried. He’s a funny guy.
 

Friday night actually got canceled, or rather I decided to sit it out at home. We had rain, lots of rain, all last week in Texas. I had plans to go to the high school football game where two of my grandchildren play in the band. It was homecoming but sitting in the cold and rain didn’t really appeal to me so instead I stayed home and watched a cute and clean movie, In-lawfully Yours, on Netflix. If you like cute, clean, feel good movies you’ll like this one.

Saturday night I went to church and then out to dinner at Cracker Barrel with friends. There are four of us that have eaten together there after church for almost 20 years.  We laughingly call ourselves the Cracker Barrel gang. In the beginning there were seven including me and my husband, two other couples and a widowed friend. A lot has happened to our little group through the years. The wife of one of our couples passed away as did my husband. As time went by her husband quit coming. One friend had a stroke, but he is doing well. So now it’s usually just the four of us. We’ve never gone to a different restaurant and haven’t grown tired of the menu yet.

Sunday night was our church Volunteer Banquet. It was a night of

glitz and glam at a local country club and tons of fun. The theme was semi-formal black and white. I took advantage of the opportunity to wear the dress I purchased for my daughter’s wedding earlier this year. The food was delicious and there was a great band. Everyone received a nice leather journal engraved with our church’s name. I can’t wait to write in mine. My hubby and I loved to dance so watching instead of being on the dance floor was a little hard but it was a great evening. 

Monday night I was back at Cracker Barrel having dinner with another women’s group a friend and I’ve co-led for over 10 years. We call ourselves the Dining Divas and meet once a month at various restaurants. We choose a different one every month. There were 7 of us there last night. We shared lots of laughs, comforted some of the ladies going through difficult times and celebrated one of the Diva’s recent retirement. It’s nice to have friends to go through life together.

Retirement life is full. Mostly it’s full of friends and family, laughs and tears and joy that comes from things money can’t buy. I may have to budget carefully and watch what I order when going out to eat but its’s not the food after all that you remember but the stories and laughs shared with friends. Today I’m feeling grateful and blessed and admittedly a bit tired. I’m ready for a quiet evening at home.