April - Visiting in Sierra MadreAs Maria pointed out in one of her comments, April is a lovely month for birthdays. As it happens, tomorrow is my birthday - although if you must know, I am actually subtracting a year from my age. After all, I deserve it, don't you think?
So, to celebrate, Kandy and I are gathering up the girls to meet friends at Crissy Field in San Francisco tomorrow. These are very special friends. I have known them for almost 20 years, but one of them, Kathie, I have never met face-to-face. You see, we have been exchanging email for a very long time on an email list. Back around 1987, or so, I was on a list called the Sappho email list. I don't know what it is like now, but at the time, it was a huge list, with hundreds of subscribers, and a high noise factor (a lot of one-liner nonsense email-posts, that kind of thing). Being on such a large list, you often find that there are a few women of similar interests and tastes - interests being professional, writing, family, life-stories, etc. So a group of us left Sappho to share and write about politics, books, even exchange creative writing - and so we created our own private list.
Eventually, an even smaller group splintered off that second list and created a third private list that we now enjoy. I think there are about ten of us on the list. We've gotten to know each other very well over the years, but I do not believe that any one of us has met all of the others in the person.
Our list spans the continent - from Vermont, to Wisconsin to Texas and out to California, and more places I cannot recall. It is always a treat to meet one of our list members. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does it is a fun and celebratory occasion.
So, tomorrow I am looking forward to fun in the sun at Crissy Field in San Francisco, laughing with my family and friends, drinking wine, eating strawberries, cheese, and lucious bread from Boudin's. I can't think of a better way to celebrate a birthday.
|