Shooting stars and fried green tomatoes

The older I get, the more I treasure those simple, yet special moments. Often, they don’t sound like a big deal but if you truly focus on the experience they begin to weave the tapestry of a life well-lived.

Yesterday a dear friend drove from the city – an hour and a half away – simply to have lunch with me. We have a history of “lunch” turning into a four hour gab fest so I cleared the entire day in preparation. Good thing, too. We set a record…our personal best…clocking in at about six and a half hours.

We met at a local restaurant which has some of the best fried green tomatoes anywhere. We split a half order as our appetizer and both of us thoroughly enjoyed this Southern treat. A little over an hour later, our lunch finished but our conversation barely begun, I suggested we head over to a local coffee shop and continue our visit.

It was a surprisingly nice day coming on the heels of several excruciatingly hot ones. We sat on the shady patio and enjoyed the cool breeze as we caught up on one another’s lives. I honestly can’t think of a better way to spend a summer afternoon.

Finally, we had to say goodbye so Roz could head for home. But not before we made tentative plans for a trip to San Francisco sometime in the next several months. A few years ago we took what we fondly refer to as our “Thelma and Louise road trip”.  It was such fun and we are both looking forward to another little trip together.

I made a quick stop at the grocery store for a few items and got to talk to my niece who works there and was excited to tell me about her new dog, then went home and quickly whipped up a nice little supper. By the way, if you’d like the recipe I made – Hawaiian Ham and Cheese, click here. I cut up a fresh pineapple to go with it and we watched the final episode of “The Daily Show” while we ate.

We had heard that it would likely be a good night to see the Perseids meteor shower so after we ate and cleaned up the kitchen we dragged our zero gravity chairs way out in our backyard. We reclined in our chairs, Shiloh between us, and began to scan the night sky. The temperature had dropped to the low 70s which felt almost chilly after days of highs reaching the high 90s and the occasional 100 degree day.

Sitting out there together, listening to the cicadas, chatting occasionally but mostly just watching…it’s one of our favorite things to do. It’s a quiet little respite in a sometimes too noisy world. And it’s one of those little moments in our day which we have come to treasure. We saw perhaps 10 “shooting stars” during our time outside last night. Not quite as dramatic as we might have hoped but still pretty special.

And that’s the way life can be if we live it intentionally and make a point to savor it. Time spent with people we love doing something simple makes life special. It’s not so much the big, exciting events that lead to happiness. Family, friends, shooting stars and fried green tomatoes – these are the components of a life worth living.