Lunch Bunch is what we call ourselves, and we are a group of some 40 ladies who gather each month from September til May to share food, conversation and memories. We’ve been doing this for 25 years or more, and, amazingly, most of us are still in the same area where we have lived all these years which makes it easy for us to continue the tradition. Sometimes we gather at a restaurant, sometimes in a home, and no matter where we are it is opportunity to catch up, particularly now that we don’t see each other as often.
Recently, Lunch Bunch gathered at my house, and as I looked around the spaces where ladies were seated, I wondered what it was that had kept us together all these years and began asking why we had lasted so long. Quickly the answers came. We are an urban family. We are friends of long standing, and our children have grown up together. It is heartwarming to walk in and see all of the faces that are so familiar. Perhaps my favorite answer was the simple statement that we have grown up together and now we are growing old together.
How true that last is. We were 30 something when we started gathering. Our kids were in elementary school, and over the years we found great comfort in discussing the problems of parenthood. Later, we cried together as they went off to college and then celebrated when our now adult children spread their wings and began creating their own lives which for most now includes families of their own. We have proudly shown off our grandchildren. We have supported one another in times of illness or personal crisis. We have mourned the loss of a few who passed away before their time. We have laughed together as we discuss our new wrinkles, poochy bellies and sagging body parts. No doubt we will have much more to say and share in coming years as change continues in our lives, and we will be the better for having each other.
Later, I was sharing my appreciation for this group with my daughter and suggested that she and her peers should start creating their own Lunch Bunch. She replied that things have changed, that people come and go making it hard to establish long term relationships. That made me sad and made me appreciate even more how much I value the women and their families who have been a part of my life all these years. Ours are ties that bind, and I can’t imagine how different life would be without them.
Lulu's Musings 
Hello Lady L…
Yes… my open porch is well appreciated but it’s a bit too cold, still.
Wish the real spring comes soon.
Have a blessed w/end.
xoxo
Linda, I’ve often wanted to capture the great love this group shares! The grand laughs – there are some I would just love to experience again and again! And, if I go on too long here, the memories of those laughs will turn to tears because they are so dear. It is a high honor to know each and every one. Sylvia
I love this tradition all of you have kept over the years. What a gift! Sadly, my generation seems too busy and scattered to enjoy such a thing. My own children are enjoying a childhood very much like my own – playing in the street, biking to the library, digging in the dirt, making their own fun – but our best efforts to get together with friends and neighbors are often thwarted by the crazy, busy schedules most families of school-age children keep these days. We hardly even see our own neighbors…and when we do, it’s a quick wave as they pass us by in the car on the way to some practice or activity. Makes me a little sad, but I keep hoping my “lunch bunch” kind of friends will find me…or that I’ll find them! Enjoy your time together and happy lunching! ♥ Linsey