book club (lyn)

Zelia picks me up around 11 for our monthly excursion to Costco.  She tells me that my face really looks better (not as fleshy), and I am flattered.  I know she’s right though, as I can see it too.

Our trip to Costco is much faster and less expensive than normal.  Now that I am eating healthier, I can zip by the cookie/bakery section as well as the frozen desserts and head straight for the non-perishables, the healthy foods, and the meats and fish.  We are in and out in record time, under an hour.  I spend only $128, but that includes $14 for smoked salmon, and $13 for a fruit bowl.  A lot of money, maybe, but good for a lot of low points.

Tonight is Book Club.  Based on Zelia’s comment today, I anticipate that the women in my Book Club will react to the new me, especially since I haven’t seen them since before the summer.  I’m wrong.

I walk in late, and while everyone is very friendly, no one says a word about my weight.  I even stand around awhile before sitting, hoping that the smaller-sized me in my smaller-sized jeans will be noticed.  I’m not.

So of course I blurt out that I’ve lost almost 12 pounds, and everyone congratulates me.  But no one says I look thinner, because I’m told, they never thought I looked heavy before.  I am relieved.

Our Book Club is an interesting mix of very intelligent women.  At one time, our children attended the same public elementary school, Manhattan New School, or, PS 290.  Now, some of those same children are in college.

We get together about every five or six weeks, and have been doing this for over five years.  It’s always more about the socializing than the discussion of the book, since more times than not the topics we cover are of greater interest than the book. 

Take tonight for example; we meet to discuss Lucy, by Ellen Feldman, a fictitious account of the love affair between FDR and Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd.  The discussion lasts about 15 minutes, with no one really liking the book all that much.  The rest of the time we converse on a multitude of topics, including: the application process for college; the Collyer brothers and what to do if you think you know someone who may be a compulsive hoarder, (I do, and it’s a neighbor); the upcoming mayoral election (I think everyone supports Bloomberg, with varying levels of enthusiasm);  and this blog (the two people who have read it really seem to like it, which means a lot as they are both very smart, literary, and highly discerning.  Thank you Lynn and Pennelope).

All this discussing is done in the presence of delicious-looking food.  Crackers and dips, cut up fresh bread with cold cuts, a bowl of cashews, a spinach quiche, wine, and fruit. 

I eat only the pineapples, drink only the water, and leave feeling physically and mentally sated.