Every Other Saturday

There are five of us.  Sue, the owner of the salon where we gather, is the vessel that helped us to come together.  Grace, Sue's niece, is the gentle artist who helps us to feel beautiful.

The rest of us are an unlikely trio.  We are all professionals in our careers.  We are are all strong-minded and independent.  We are all searching for the peace that can only come from within oneself.

We come together on payday Saturdays, the hour appointments stretching into two hours or maybe three.  Sue doesn't seem to mind.  She goes on about her work, joining in now and then so we know she is listening. We have become friends, the five of us, all because we have one more thing in common--pride (maybe a little vanity) in our appearance.  It doesn't matter; what matters is that we are all on the same road.

We talk about everything from dogs to fences, from pack-ratting to self-image.  We can share without argument, our different ways of viewing things molding and changing a litte bit every other week.  We are all wiser; we have more insight.  We are learning from each other.  Our stresses grow smaller, our challenges less frightening because we know there will be someone to share it with come Saturday.

We look for excuses to stay a little longer.  We are trying to convince Sue that she needs to install a sauna, a massage table and a tiki bar.  Sue is not convinced.  We will work on that.

I leave the salon with hands that I am no longer afraid to extend, actually and figuratively.  I leave with the smiles of my new friends in my mind.  I leave with the feeling that they like me as much as I like them.  It is good, this sensation of trusting those who were strangers a year ago.

These women were unknown to me a year ago.  A year ago, before I began my journey to find out who I really am, would we have become friends and confidantes?  I can't answer that.  I have become less selfish with myself;  I am more willing to share my hopes and dreams than I was a year ago.  I have found growth in my faith.  I crave these new friendships, maybe because I have felt isolated for so many years.  Will we ever be pie-and-coffee friends, or shopping buddies?  I don't know, but it doesn't matter. 

What matters is that we have someone who listens and shares, even if it only every other Saturday.