Every year after Christmas and before the 2nd weekend of January, 3 friends and I get together for breakfast and shopping in the little town of Truckee. 3 of us drive ½ hour one way. The other comes 30 minutes from the opposite direction. We meet and have a mimosa breakfast filled with love, joy, and relief that the holidays are over. Truckee is a cute little town with quaint little shops. We go mostly for the 50% Christmas decorations and to hang out a bit after the bustle of the holidays. Of the 3 in our car…..2 of us have been friends since high school and the 3rd is the sister of the one we are meeting. Get it? We all have kids. Mine are still in school. My friend from high school has 2 recent college graduates who are single. And….the other 2 are or soon will be Grandmas.
I realized on January 1…no trip had been planned. Weird. I wondered why? One friend has a 2 month old grand baby and the other is going to be a grandma early March. So…I texted my high school friend (and, it is when I say things like “I texted my friend” that I still feel young) and said…..
“Hey, did I miss the plan?”
“No. I don’t think there is a plan.”
I thought about it. Oh….I texted her…..”I was just thinking that there wasn’t a plan because two of our friends are too occupied with being grandmas.”
OUR. FRIENDS. ARE. GRANDMAS.
When the fuck did that happen? And, I mean….when the fuck did that happen. One minute I am so young and so thin and so energetic I can work a physical job for 40 hours a week while going to college full time….and still go out and bang my head all night. Smoking and drinking the entire way. Now, I wake up tired. One minute I am too selfish to take care of a plant. And now I take care of a family. And dogs. And I am a grandma. Well…not officially. But, I could be. And my friends are. And. What the fuck?
At one time all my friends were dating and partying in college. Then all of my friends were getting married. Then all my friends were spitting out kids, buying houses; then getting divorced and now grandmas? The only thing left is death…….
I know how old I am (believe me, I know….I feel it) I know that I am old enough to have grandkids. I know my friends have grandkids…..I don’t even mind that they are grandmas. But, I am at the stage where all of my friends are grandmas. Grandmas. Which means…..you know. I look like a Grandma too. And, I hang out with grandmas (okay…not really….only one grandma friend do I see regularly….because she (like me) likes to go out occasionally…explore new things. The other people I hang out with are younger……or not yet Grandmas. I feel like I’m invisible already (thanks, motherhood and marriage) and, now…..now…..I’m in the grandma group?
There is nothing even remotely hip and cool about Grandmas.
Not sure if I should knit something or put on my thigh high boots and see if I can get a senior discount at my fave watering hole on a glass of wine……..FUCK……