Benefits of Friendship

This weekend was another one for the books. H had a three day weekend, so we scooted up to North Carolina to soak up the beauty, and to spend time with friends. H brought a girlfriend, and J and I invited a couple, who have been our friends for 20 years to join us. It's so much fun for us to share our little bit of paradise with friends. H and her friend started chatting from the moment we picked them up at school on Thursday, and didn't stop until we dropped her off at home on Sunday.

J came up with S early to play golf, and T and I came up on Thursday with the girls. We played cards, hiked, read, knitted, laughed, drank good wine, and had an incredible weekend. Didn't sleep much, but I feel energized whenever I spend good quality time with friends. I think J and I learned about the benefits of quality friendships from his mother.

My mother-in-law is the picture of health. She exercises every day, eats well, has an occasional martini or glass of wine, and when she wakes up every morning she takes about 20 vitamins/supplements with a glass of orange juice. People who meet her are drawn to her personality. She looks at least 15 years younger than she is, and has the energy level of someone younger than me!

And she also makes friends everywhere she goes. Her friends are found everywhere...of course, her peers, her family, the co-workers from her job, but also from less expected places. Her hairdresser, manicurist, housekeeper, alterations lady, shopkeeper...are all considered friends to her. She will strike up a conversation with a stranger and in the process of five minutes will already know their name, family situation, and whether they need a job referral, or even a date.

If you ask most people, they would say that her "healthy lifestyle", the exercise, diet, supplements, and moderation is what keep her young. But a 10 year Australian study shows that it's the other thing, the thing that comes as easy to her as breathing, her ability to form close friendships.

And her youthful figure? Of course, her exercise and diet are considered key factors in keeping her in great shape, but a recent shows that her circle of friends can also play a role in preventing obesity. In 2007, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study showing that the risk of obesity increased by 60% when your circle of friends gained weight also!

And that's not all, Harvard published research last year showing that social integration with friends, children and neighbors delayed memory loss by 60%!

I've always felt that time with my girlfriends gives me a boost of energy, and even though I don't get to spend as much time with them as I did before marriage and kids, I treasure the time we do get to spend together. It's great to see proof that it's both physically and spiritually rewarding!

I wonder if the benefits of friendship outweigh the late night, oreo cookie-eating, red-wine drinking, chat-fests?

Meeting the boyfriend's Mom...and the Matzah song

Interesting weekend. 

Saturday night we had reservations around the piano at Whitfield's...(our favorite Nashville neighborhood restaurant).  It's pretty cool, they set the piano for 7 people, and you can eat there while John plays all your favorite Sinatra/New York, New York/ dinner music.  He's actually pretty incredible.  Has a wonderful soothing voice, and plays great piano.  The NC final four game was on behind the bar, right next to us, so we didn't miss anything.  We had invited two other couples to join us, and decided to invite H's boyfriend's mom to come, too.  We had met her once or twice, and she seemed like a lovely person, and since H and boyfriend (R.) were going to a school function and then the movies, we thought it would be a good time to get to know her a little better.

It's so weird to even say "H's boyfriend"...because when they're in 9th grade, don't drive, and go to separate single-sex schools, I don't know if "boyfriend" is a really accurate description.  But it's pretty cute.  They text every day, empathize with each other about various sports workouts/practices or homework, talk about music, etc.  H goes to school, concentrates on her school work,  doesn't obsess about what she wears to school or how her hair looks during the week, and on the weekends, she gets gussied up and maybe gets to see him for a few hours.   I think I like this better than when they do start driving.

We were right, his mom was delightful.  She's very pretty, and very outgoing, and of course, LOVES her sons.  She has three, and it's great to hear her talk about them, because they're all very close.  H and I like the fact that R. is close to his mom.  She shared a few things with us about his feelings about having a girlfriend and it was very sweet.  I wish I could just put all these feelings in a little box and keep it just like this.  The reality is that they're young, inexperienced and naive, so there are lots of heartbreaks and disappointments in their future.  But for now, it's really fun to see.

Dinner at Whitfield's was great, as always.  Narvil Wilson was there (his son is our favorite "waiter extraordinaire") celebrating his birthday, and he got up and sang a little song he wrote a few years back recorded by Ronnie Milsap, I think..."The most beautiful girl in the world".  Then the hostess, Ann Marie, also sang a beautiful song.  She was in the top 36 of American Idol this year, but didn't make it to the top 12.  Their mistake.  She was Fabulous!

Only in Nashville, I guess.

Happy Pesach to all my friends, and in case you have leftover Matzah, here are some ideas...

Spring is in the Air...First proposal done by blog?

Yes, I know, I haven't posted anything in a long time.

Basically, it's just all the normal, every day mom stuff.  Went to New York for a bar mitzvah.

Can I just say, it was kind of OVER THE TOP!!  But other than the zillions of dollars they spent on the extravaganza, it was actually very sweet.  And kind of sad.  We were there for my husband's cousin...it was his son who had the bar mitzvah.  J's aunt (cousins's stepmother), boycotted.  Said she wouldn't come.  Couldn't be bothered.  So very sad for the little boy, because all his other grandparents on his dad's side are dead.  There is a point in the ceremony that the bar mitzvah's parents come up to make their speeches, and their parents (the grandparents) join them.  The mom came up with her mom and dad, and J's cousin came up, all by himself.  I was so choked up.  She missed such an incredible experience, that she will never get back.  Her loss.

Then, spring break in Snowmass.  This is our 8th year to ski over spring break, and the first year that we've been to Colorado for a week with NO NEW SNOW!  It actually wasn't bad.  Snowmass is so big and so high that we were able to find tons of good conditions, although by our last day it was obvious that they really needed more snow.  Luckily, I heard they just got a foot.  The good thing about the weather was it was not super cold, so we didn't have to wear 3 or 4 layers.  We had lunch in the village on St. Patrick's day and were entertained by some very self-confident young ladies, who didn't wear any layers at all!  I think the green liquid they were slamming down before getting up on the table helped their self confidence.

I love Snowmass. It's a big mountain, with lots of single black diamond runs (I'm not so good on the double diamonds). We love skiing bumps, and there were bumps all over the place...good, well definied, soft bumps. (Or mobiles, as H used to call them). Plus, Snowmass is right down the road from Aspen, the coolest mountain town in Colorado. Aspen is a real town, now like Beaver Creek, which we love, but was built all at the same time and has no real character. The shopping and the restaurants in Aspen are fantastic.




Skiing together as a family is my favorite thing to do.  It is the ONLY sport that all three of us do together.  J and H are beautiful skiiers.  I will try anything, but I don't look so good doing it.  But it's so much fun when we start at the top of the mountain, J goes first, then H, and I bring up the rear with a huge smile on my face.  I don't know how much longer H will be happy doing spring break with just her parents.  But while it lasts, it's pretty great.

Now we're fixin (yes, I'm from the South) to go to Dallas for a friend's 50th birthday.  Wow.  My friends are turning 50.  How did that happen?


I'll write something really good soon, I promise.  In the meantime, check this out.  Maybe the first proposal done by blog!  Awwww......