Sweet Momments of Friendship - A Vignette

Vignette (literature), short, impressionistic scenes that focus on one moment or give a particular insight into a character, idea, or setting

For J

A Sunday, sometime in November or maybe even December. I don’t remember exactly. A party brunch with mimosas and tacky presents… oh yes, so it must have been December after all… tacky Christmas presents. We were all laughing at each other’s genius when it came to tacky crap valued under $10. A shiny two-foot tall Santa poster, an over-sized little-lady-in-the-rice-field straw hat, a plastic vest advertising a cel phone service…the big hit was 6 warm cans of Heineken of dubious origins purchased on the side of the road. The kids were running around, with the adults reminding them to thank so and so for the gift. It is the scene that happens all over the world when people who do not live by their actual families come together with the “family” of friends that encircles them and makes them feel safe.

The party slowly broke up and our “nuclear” family remained. Six couples and five kids between us. We ran out of orange juice, but not champagne for some reason so the women sipped champagne while we talked about things best friends talk about. The kids, other women, traveling, our husbands, our dreams, our realities, and everything in between. In my happy champagne haze I don’t remember what the men where up to, or even if they were still there actually. I just remember sending the kids outside to play and making the oldest one promise to watch the rest.

I lied down to take a nap, to sleep off the 3pm buzz. She lay down next to me and we talked about the party and the kids and the vacation coming up. It was a splendid moment of friendship induced and alcohol infused perfection. So I leaned over and kissed her. A slow, tentative kiss.

It was a sweet moment when the usual methods of showing friendship just did not seem enough. At that moment I loved her and respected her more than any other woman in the world. I loved her laugh, I loved her crazy habit of always apologizing, I loved that I felt totally comfortable leaving my kids with her, I loved that we were both tired of our jobs and ready for a change, I loved that I felt so comfortable at her house and that her boys were my boys.

I remember thinking, “Oh shit, I hope I am not freaking her out…” and then a second later, “Oh shit, I hope I am not freaking out.” But then, she kissed me back and we kissed each other and it was nice, really nice. But then as quickly as it started, it was over and we both closed our eyes and fell asleep. At some point my daughter crawled into bed with us and we napped under the big white comforter.