The Meet and Greet
It was a hot and sticky afternoon. Their appointed meeting site was outside. Centrally located, easy to find by car. Quiet and open, easy to spot two people you've never met.

The one who lives farthest arrived first. Then came the one who lives right there and should have picked an indoor venue in that awful 90 degree heat but wasn't thinking clearly. The one from across the country --visiting friends near the city-- made her entrance at virtually the same time.

A flurry of sweaty hugging immediately commenced. Bare arms, bare toes, damp curls on bare necks. It was, well, hot. There will be no photos of that. It will remain in their memories and your imagination.

The one who lives farthest had her posse along ... husband and two of their three boys. The husband and the youngest boy smiled a lot. The teenager smiled too, but mainly while texting on his phone. As it should be at age 13.

A few details later the three men left to do manly things. Well, if riding The Duck tour bus/boat and blowing quack whistles while splashing into the Delaware River counts. (At least afterwards they wandered South Street and ate Jim's cheese steaks for dinner).

The other two women had each come alone, braving rants from loved ones, 'This is so last-minute!' 'It could be dangerous.' 'These people are strangers!' 'Stay in public places.'

You get the picture. Well, no other pictures just yet.

Their hostess guided them to a Philly landmark of sorts, Bridget Foy's on South Street (itself a landmark). Into the cool dimness they went, finding a table and a friendly waitress who quickly realized to keep the drinks coming and otherwise let the women be.

Those who know them and others at the same level understand the instant, seamless bonding of like souls ... making age, experience, circumstance, lifestyle irrelevant.

The Power of We
Because you too share that commonality of a fellow writer, thinker, wonderer, bright, engaged, endeavoring to be a loving human being. The cliche fits. It all emmerges, hopes, dreams, pain, sorrow, triumphs, celebration, pride, humility and absolutely genuine lack of malice.

So many of you were there in spirit when the talk turned --not as often as you'd think-- to our most common ground. Very little trashing. In jest, in fact. More fun to simply compare ideas and thoughts of who you might be.

And added giggles suggesting titles and comments for this report, passed among the three in follow-up emails:

Dinner with the A-list: we probably talked about you.

We're bound to have people jealousing and writing dejected posts.

Philly Meet-Up: If we talked about you, you're either cool or a psycho.

Holding Our Own in Philly - more than a dozen drinks consumed, only one bathroom trip each.

Headline: Sally refused to share her stash.
And here she is, your hostess Sally, consuming an actual Demerol (sorry, Freaky, it was vanilla, not chocolate).

Sally immediately warned her young cohort about the dangers of drugs. Though she refused to shed her feathers I can tell you that underneath is the face of an angel with a thousand watt smile, belonging to our very own Mrs. Michaels.

(It looks like the slightly more mature mother of three who took that photo already had taken Demerol, or one drink too many... Not!)

Here she is, the light of her spirit shining on her shoulder, right next to her sweet, generous heart, Lisa Kern.

And though there were backdrops galore inside the restaurant and even more outside, not one of us thought to ask Loving Husband or our fab waitress Mia to snap a shot of we three new BFF's together.

What can I say? Brains melted in the heat.

Still, we ate a great dinner (Best of Philly cheeseburgers), talked and laughed with our mouths full, drank our bladders full. We became sisters in tea and pee ... and with thee.

Goodbyes were prolonged, bittersweet. We'll meet again. That's a given. How and when is not so easy.

But dammit, I'm determined to pull together a major meeting of Philly's geographically available friends -- and hire a photographer!

Final headline suggestion, perhaps I should have used it?

Philly meet up, as imagined by Steve Blevins (which will require pulling random photos off the Internet). 

I can only add that as down-and-dirty, last-minute as it was, I couldn't have imagined a better meet-up with two such exceptional women.

Eat your heart out, Steve!