Girl’s Night Out

Last night my friend Carol and I found ourselves without our male counterparts at dinnertime.  Our husbands had been invited to  a business dinner at a nice restaurant downtown (spouses aren’t included anymore). Neither of us wanted to eat alone so planned on meeting at one of the many local Mexican restaurants in Greene County.  Carol had a craving for a margarita so we decided on meeting at El Jaripeo at 5:30.

When we arrived at the restaurant, another woman who arrived at the same time held the door for us to walk in.  We exchanged very brief pleasentries in the foyer before the hostess came to seat us.  When the hostess asked how many we had in our party, we told her there were two of us.  As we began to walk away I turned back and asked the woman who had held the door if she was meeting someone.  She said no.

Well, since Carol and I were there to avoid eating alone, it seemed only natural to ask her if she’d like to join us.  After hesitating for a second to make sure we really wanted her to join us, she said yes.  We ordered our margaritas and the conversation began.

It’s amazing how quickly women begin to share information.  I think we instinctively try to find as many commonalities as possible.  And, in more cases than not, we find them.

Like Carol and I, our new friend Lyndsay was also married to a former career military man.  She also has two grown children and is new to the area having only been here for a year or so.  It wasn’t long before we were sharing ideas of ways she could become involved in the community and make more connections.

The evening passed pretty quickly and it wasn’t long before our happy hour tumblers were empty and our tummies were full.  As Carol and I reached for our wallets to pay our portions of the check, Lyndsay swept it away and insisted dinner was her treat; totally disregarding our protests.  Incredibly, she even sent us emails thanking us for inviting her to join us last night.

Obviously we never expected to get a free meal last night at El Jaripeo but then, we never expected to make a new friend either.