Fun with Friends

Seems as though I’m not sitting at my computer as much anymore and am having a harder time writing blogs. Could I type one out on my phone? Perhaps. But, as you likely know, my blogs are not short. I have arthritis issues and – really – typing a blog on my phone is not happening anytime soon. So I’ll have to settle for whenever inspiration hits.

 

And inspiration has hit because I had the best weekend and wanted to tell you about it.

 

I went to a wedding on Saturday. My friends Butch and Dragana’s son got married and I was invited along with some of our other good friends from our way-in-the-distant-past Ohio State days.

 

The wedding ceremony was at the Greek Orthodox church in downtown Columbus and the reception was about 20 minutes away in Grove City.

 

But I had about an hour in between to find something to do.

 

It was a formal wedding and I was wearing a long dress – so popping in to CVS to check out new nail polish colors was out. And I wasn’t about to risk filling up the gas tank and spilling gasoline on my fancy dress.

 

Instead, I did the next best thing and called my friend Karen who lives a few minutes away and I went to visit her for a little while. We talked and she took a few photos of me in my fancy dress and she even gave me a little snack to tide me over ‘til dinner. She also lent me her bottle of hair spray to tame my too-long-because-I-didn’t-have-time-for-a-haircut hair.

 

So, yeah. I was really unhappy about my hair…but my next-door neighbor (who I hired for dress-zipping duty before I left for the wedding), reasonably stated, “well, you’re not the bride, so you don’t need to worry as much about your hair – right?”

 

And, boy, was she right! Immediately, I stopped worrying about my hair. True, it was not coiffed as well as it could’ve been – but at least it wasn’t frizzed out and/or pulled back into a ponytail.

 

So I left Karen’s and made my way to Grove City. Thank goodness for GPS as I’d never been in that area before.

 

Walked into the reception and immediately found friends and other people I knew. Four of the friends I went to Italy with were there – and it was the first time I’d seen them since our trip. So we talked and laughed and just thoroughly enjoyed our time together.

 

It was a beautiful venue, and the bride and groom were beautiful – and it was simply a beautiful evening all around! Should I use different adjectives? Maybe. But then this blog would be a book!

 

Before I left, I suggested that we get together for breakfast the next morning. They said they’d call me.

 

The next morning Joe called and asked where we should meet. I had in mind a place that was convenient to all of us – and told him The Pancake House on Polaris Parkway. Sounds like a good place for breakfast, no?

 

Then Charisse texted and asked me to send the name/address of the place. Well, I was rushing (because I had less than 10 minutes to get ready and head out the door), so I looked it up and quickly sent it to her.

 

Then I drove to the place I thought I had sent them. It was The Original Pancake House on Polaris Parkway.

 

But I had sent them to The Pancake House – also off of Polaris Parkway, but it used the side street as its address.

 

Guess the word “Original” in this case was important.

 

I get to the restaurant five minutes early and I’m all proud of myself because I’m there on time…and I’m looking around for them and I don’t see them.

 

I decide they’re not there yet, so I put my name in at reception for a party of five. And then I text my friends to say I’m at the restaurant.

 

They text me back to say they’re already there and sitting in the back. I walk into all three rooms of the restaurant and can’t find them. But they’re pranksters, so I’m guessing they’re hiding from me.

 

So I say, “Come out and get me because I don’t see you.”

 

Nick says, “Jane…I’m standing at the front and you’re not here!”

 

What??

 

So Charisse grabs the phone and says, “Jane – you sent us to this place! Just use the directions you sent me and come over here!”

 

Who knew that there was an Original Pancake House and a regular Pancake House about 10 minutes from each other on the same stretch of road?

 

And why couldn’t my friends read my mind and head over to the one I was picturing?

 

Anyway, I was a little frustrated with myself – but I finally got to the correct restaurant. When I walked in, they were all hiding behind their menus and Joe had covered his head completely with his jacket.

 

AI even added Maggie Minx!

I immediately burst out laughing and my frustration with myself immediately dissipated.

 

Oh, but Beth had been timing me because I’m not usually the one who runs late – and they were making fun of me. Haha. Shut the timer off, Beth!

 

So we drank cappuccinos and ate eggs and pancakes and talked and laughed. While there, we started looking at photos from the night before. And then we started playing around with AI – ChatGPT.

 

We started making bobbleheads of our pictures. And caricatures of them. And we’d laugh and laugh at the results.

 

So it was a great morning.

 

When we left the restaurant, we took a final group selfie. As the four of them took off for other parts of Ohio, I headed home. (No GPS Directions needed, thankyouverymuch!)

 

And when I got home, I started making more AI pics from that selfie. Sent them to my friends so we could have a little more fun.

 

Isn’t that what life is all about? Love and laughter, my friends.

 

Until next time…