The Breakfast Special

There is every day life, every day friends, every day responsibility, and then there is the last Friday morning of each month.  Though the last Friday of each month occupies only one day on the calendar it is anticipated every other day – during which “everyday life” is taking place.

The last Friday consists of meeting 5 special friends around a table at a local grill.  We travel in from all areas of town to meet.  Our table destination serves as the hub of our wheel – each dear friend having traveled their “spoke” to arrive at our corner booth which is tucked in a quiet space that seems to await our regular yet far from routine appearance.

As each of us enters the grill one by one we greet one another as if it’s the first gathering in a very long time.  We admire one another’s attire and accoutrements – each girlfriend showing up as creatively clad as each mind is wired.

You see, this well anticipated “girl time” provides for us not just friendship, not just the breakfast special and not just a break from the everyday but an opportunity to share our creative gifts.  We never really know what to expect from our gathering.  We just show up trusting that it will be rewarding, inspiring and most definitely laughter filled.

It all began years ago when we discovered that all of us were yearning for a creative outlet in our life.  We each possess different types of creativity.  We had no idea how to start our creative meetings except to identify a time and a place.  Since then we’ve been ordering the breakfast special, slowly sipping on our tea or coffee, building a relationship with our young, brilliantly tattooed waitress who has the patience of job and a distant curiosity.  She silently observes this treasured experience reveal itself each month in her section.  She witnesses laughter, tears, hugs, and various props such as glass stones, decoupage pictures or vintage hats that are used as inspiration and often gifted to one another as lingering reminders of the creativity that lives in our hearts and souls beyond one Friday a month.

As our monthly impromptu topic is introduced, we first discuss it, listening intently to each others’ insight and then we take time to write about this presented topic.  Our final minutes involve the sharing of our writing.  We never know what to expect from one another but know each perspective will enlighten.

Our check arrives to pay our tab.  It’s time to move on toward the next 29 days or so.  We leave feeling fulfilled, grateful for these moments together, and anticipating the next last Friday.

You see, our “last Fridays” are about taking a moment to pause.  Taking a moment to experience and believe in not only ourselves but in friends who inspire, support and encourage.  It’s a time of chemistry that was not formulated or contrived it simply just exists.  There is no need within any of us to take control or place boundaries or limits regarding what must be accomplished.  We simply anticipate the adventure of the moment and the creative challenge of the day.  We treasure the opportunity to express our heart with complete transparency knowing that our vulnerability will not be met with anything other than love and appreciation.  This is the breakfast special that we know will always be on the menu as long as we continue to gather around our table together.

The price of 2 eggs (any way you like them), toast, grits and bacon, $3.99.  The value, priceless.

by Robin Hurst, Copyrighted 2012