Our tentative Tuesday from last week ended up happening, and it was so much fun to meet Barb at Malibu Bluffs Park.  It’s kind of been our meetup place for awhile now, because it’s halfway between our houses, it’s kid friendly (i.e. Matteo can run amok without huge consequence) and it’s an absolutely amazing spot to hang out, drink coffee and spend a Tuesday morning!

It was great to see her as always (and the muffins she brought were amazing, who knew vegan shit could taste this good?), and I was glad that it happened.  The funniest memory from that day, though, was Barb’s comment about my nail polish.  My sister-in-law bought me this color because I complimented her the week before when she was wearing it.  It’s a brownish grey, which is a new thing for me, and it’s also “in” right now as it turns out.

Barb:  Dark nail polish, huh?

Lori:  Yeah, Danielle got it for me.

Barb:  That’s so 80s dude.

Lori:  Really?

Barb:  Yeah, back in the 80s all that dark shit was popular.  You didn’t know that?

Lori:  Not really.  I didn’t wear nail polish in the 80s, except for prom.

Then we moved onto other subjects a little more engaging and intellectual, but it kind of sat weird with me.  Who is Barb, of all people, to tell me I was stuck in the 80s?  She doesn’t have cable, has never owned an iPod and her cell phone isn’t technologically capable of sending or receiving text messages, and I’M the one stuck in the 80s?  Think again.

It got me thinking about who Barb and I were in the 80s, and wondering if we would’ve been friends back then.  Then I started thinking about the friends I had in the 80s, 90s and 2000s, how they were similar and how they were different.  My friends change as my life changes, but some of them will be in my life forever.  You never really know who’s gonna stick and who’s going to fade to black, and that’s kind of the fun of it.

I also thought about who my friends might be in the next 20 years, and how much they would differ from the past 20 years.  I can see my friends becoming my mommy friends, the ones who have kids the same age as mine.  But even though I’m hanging out with more mommy friends, the personalities of my friends remain the same.  Regardless of circumstance, marital status or spawn count (as Barb likes to call it), all my friends have three main traits in common; they’re kind, thoughtful and fun to be around.

My husband and I are going to Barb and Emmett’s tonight for their summer party, and even though the food will be vegan I know we’ll have an awesome time.  Why?  Because I love hanging out with them, and I love hanging out with and catching up with their friends.  And that’s because they fit the bill to be on the top of my list.  So even though it’s BARB who’s stuck in the 80s I can’t help but forgive her.  She might not have an iPod, but she’s still a hell of a lot of fun to be around.