Coffee #4 - Jessica Cox

Friends on FB since 2008, 38 mutual friends

 "We laughed, we cried..."

I got my "Outlander" t-shirt in the mail about a week and a half ago, but waited until coffee with Jessica to wear it, because we are both fans of Diana Gabaldon's book, and the STARZ Outlander series and I wanted to surprise her.  (It says "Keep calm and dinna fash, Sassenach") She was surprised when she met me at Peet's Coffee, and said she had almost worn her shirt (which is navy blue), but had a meeting to go to after our coffee.

I can't remember when Jessica has not been a part of our life, at least not since the kids were in high school, if not before.  She is Ned's Phish-concert-attending buddy.

Jessica is this wonderful person who, when our kids died, showed up at our house and became the coordinator of everything.  She made a couple of tragic times a bit less painful.

Today I learned that she has been supervising a senior living facility for the last couple of years, taking care of the couples who live there (the couples have been lifelong friends and built this facility after they became empty nesters so they could take care of each other as they grew older--would that our Pinata group had that idea 20 years ago!.  I actually have been to that facility and interviewed the women a few years ago).  So she understands Atria and my mother and we discussed that.

We also got around to talking about the old Lawsuit days, Dave and Paul and that got us both crying, but we were glad to have shared those memories.

Mostly we were two old friends sharing memories and coffee.  Lovely day.

Coffee #3 - Jessica "Moms" Brown

Friends on FB since 2008, 37 mutual friends

(Thanks, Kari Peterson for taking the photo)

Jessica "Moms" Brown is another one of those people who have been in my world forever, but we never seem to get together.  Her daughter Sarah (Sarge) Clanton went to school with our kids (and, in fact, was a speaker at Paul's funeral).

Jessica and I have been to a couple of movies together,but this was the first time we have actually sat down and had a chat.  It was very pleasant. We discovered we had a lot in common.

We went to Mishka's Cafe, and it was delightfully pleasant to sit outside (and you'll note we are both drinking coffee this time)  We chatted about all sorts of things, from what it was like to watch the Giants win the playoffs last night, our respective grandchildren, our love of TV and dogs, and just all sorts of things, including Twitter.  She asked me to explain it to her.  I did...sort of...and we both agreed that Facebook was better suited to old farts like us.

I don't know how long we were there, but I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with her.

Coffee #2: Joan Callaway

Friends on FB since 2007, 58 mutual friends

Today I had a delightful lunch with Joan Callaway, who is a Facebook Friend, and Peggy Kerr, who is not on FB, but whom I've known for several years now.  We had lunch at the deli at the University Retirement Community in Davis (I seem to spend a lot of time in retirement communities).

Joan (in the center of the photo) is a fascinating person.  Though she's only been on FB for seven years, she seems to have been in my world for most of my time in Davis, though we didn't really become friends until I joined a writing group she was running.

We share many life experiences, good ones and bad ones.  I remember when she ran Tarika, a clothing and accessories store that most people shopped in.  But I mostly know her through her writing and her encouraging me to write.

Peg has been of great help both directly by being my mother's friend and also as a sounding board for my frustrations about both Atria and its directorship, and dealing with my mother's dementia.

Today we talked a lot about poetry, since Joan is teaching a poetry class, and I found myself intrigued at the thought of taking something long, like I usually write, and condensing it into its most important points and framing it as a poem.  I may try that sometime in the future.

We also talked about writing, since Peggy is getting back into working on her memoirs again.  Joan had wonderful insights about what she has been doing and how she could expand on what she has been doing.

We also got caught up on everybody's life, of course. 

A lovely time spent on a beautiful patio.  Thanks, Joan, for treating us!

Coffee #1: Jeri Desmond

Friends on FB since 2009, 39 mutual friends

It seemed right that my first coffee (actually, in this case, lunch) was with Jeri.  Not my daughter Jeri, but her godmother, Jeri Desmond.  Jeri has been my FB friend since 2009, which is when she joined FB, but we actually met at UC Berkeley in about 1961 and have been friends ever since.  We were in each other's weddings and are godmothers to each other's daughters (her to Jeri, me to Colleen).

She now lives in a mobile home which she and husband Phil drive around the country visiting the kids and grandkids.  Today just happened to be a rare day when they were in this area, so we met for lunch at Fenton's Creamery at the Old Nut Tree center in Vacaville.  Whenever we get together we always get caught up on whose kids are doing what, where each of us is traveling, and what our mutual friends have been doing.  Today was no exception.

I did not start the first entry of "CoffeeF2F with coffee, but with a icy cold glass of water.  It just didn't seem like a coffee day!