Phenomenal Women

How was your Valentine’s Day? My late-husband and I weren’t big on elaborate gestures for the most romantically commercialized holiday ever, but he always made it special. Every year he grilled delicious ribeye steaks with lobster. Every year we exchanged inappropriate greeting cards, ate most of the dessert Joe requested, and settled in to watch whatever rom com my heart desired. Fending off his playful advances of course, until I couldn’t anymore. Once again there was no steak, no lobster, no suggestive card, no gratuitous boob grab snuggled on the couch. Another Valentine’s Day without my sweet, flirty, frisky grill master.

The first two years I stayed in, watched movies, and cried myself to sleep. This year I was invited to a Galentine’s dinner. Now if you know me, you know I’m not good with strangers, and even worse with crowds of women. I have a very small circle of female friends. That circle has widened a bit since losing my Joe, and this dinner was held at a friend’s home whom I met through a local widow’s group. Delicious Italian food, scrumptious desserts and the sweetest decorations adorned the living space welcoming you in. There were approximately twenty ladies there. I promised myself I would stay engaged. I’m so glad I did.

I met some phenomenal women. We ate, we laughed, we played dirty bingo (think dirty Santa) and told so many stories. The mix of personalities was perfection. There was one lady who kept us in stitches with her quick wit and inspiring pro/con conversation about sleeping naked. There was a woman who recognized another guest as being someone who had prayed with her at a time when she really needed it. There were schoolteachers, real estate agents, retirees and younger moms. All of these women had one thing in common. Everyone was alone for Valentine’s Day.

The night was filled with laughter and good times. Not everyone was a widow. Some were divorced or had always been single. A few had only recently lost their husbands, and I was so glad they could see the fog does lift and the light does find its way back in. Albeit slower than any of us would like. God’s light was shining brightly into that Owasso living room.

Galentine’s Day was created by Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) on the tv show ‘Parks & Recreation’. A day for “ladies celebrating ladies”. My Saturday evening was filled with just that. Strong, courageous women laughing, sharing, encouraging and supporting each other. I think Leslie Knope would have been proud.