Yesterday Julie came over for lunch. I made a lovely salad.

We were sitting there chewing the fat (don’t all you young punks think that there was fat in my salad) when I suggested that we play cards.

About 15 years ago or more Julie  had graduated from NYU, with honors I might add, and had moved out of her parents home into a studio apartment. She worked for her dad for awhile and then took some time off to perfect her writing and  “find herself” which she did in my apartment every day .

She and her dog, Otto (a prince if ever I’ve seen one) would walk over to my house and we’d have lunch, play Spite and Malice,  walk our dogs, mine was Harry, play cards again with Judge Judy in the background until dave came home and he either took us out to dinner or I’d cook.

That was our week and I have to admit it was a golden time. But life got in the way. Julie got a job at Pop Up Video and met Paul and the only weekly visitor I had was Otto on Thursdays because Julie had mental patient after work and it was too long a time for him to be alone.

So when I suggested we play cards yesterday it was really a blast from the past.

When I dealt Julie said she wasn’t sure she even remembered how to play. Neither was I but as soon as we looked at the  cards not only did the game come back to us but all the things we did to irritate each other jumped in.

Julie, when she was winning burst out in Jim Carey’s voice “Somebody stop me now!” and when I was drawing from the pile I’d pray “Please God if you never grant me one more wish, let me pick a seven”

We couldn’t help but talk about where we were in our lives when last we played that game.

I was happily married and knew I always would be plus dave and I were doing a lot of vocal records then so I was pretty successful at writing lyrics.

Julie was in limbo. She’d come to me every day for comfort because she had no idea where her life was going and she just wasn’t ready to start it. She wondered if she could ever make a living at writing and if she’d ever have a family.

When I see where we were then and where we are now I’m saying that that bitch better have me over to her house every day for lunch, dinner and Judge Judy.  And cards.