thank god for anal retentive friends

once a month, four of my closest life-long friends and i get together to eat, drink, laugh, bitch and moan. we call it "girls dinner". at times it is our only chance to reconnect.

at our most recent one, the question of the history of our dinners came up. after tying in to milestones, we figured out the date of our first dinner -- january 2002.

could it be? has it really been almost 4 years of our dinners?

have we really subjected ourselves to almost 48 dinners and desserts of varying level of stomach-inducing cramps? (most likely to occur for my dinners but you already know of some of my cooking failures.)

we laughed quite heartily over our failed attempts to wow each other with foods. we remembered the stupid moments like our curdled custard cups and leaving one single solitary piece of monkey bread as a mark of sheer willpower. we were all determined to NOT be the one to eat the last piece. by dieting rules, whoever eats the last piece assumes the entire caloric devastation of the dessert.

so it sat there, tempting us all.

we remembered other feasts where stretchy, elastic waistbands were required attire. a very yummy but deadly dinner of tortellinis and tiramisu -- a gastronomical version of t'n't. we talked about crunchy lasagna (how could we not?).

we also remembered our shared history -- the torturous years of catholic schooling, the weddings, the funerals, the graduations -- all moments of our friendship captured over a hot, home-cooked meal. no matter how dyfunctional.

for a bunch of anal-retentive, obsessive-compulsive, overachievers like us -- connecting and holding onto those kindred souls that complement us is the true miracle of friendship.