The Joy of Friendship

I just came back from a wonderful evening out. You have no idea how much I needed this evening out.
It started out when my new friend from Quebec, in the Mom's group, invited me to go see The Vow with her, as she had a 2-for-1 coupon. So I of course said yes, and looked forward to the time out with her. Then another friend from Mom's Morning Out was coming, too. Awesome! :) Then SHE posted to the while Mom's group. We ended up a group of 5.
It was so much fun...the theatre was mostly empty...I think there were maybe 4 others in the theatre with us. We laughed, we commented, we groaned and moaned and sniffled and sobbed and passed kleenex to each other and even laughed at each other.
Just that part of it was wonderful...to be able to go out with a group that is around my age, no husbands, no kids, and just fool around, have fun, and relax together.
The movie ended around 8:10, so we decided we weren't ready to go home yet. So we fooled around in the lobby, posing with the 3 Stooges giant punching bag and taking pictures with it, then shivered in the parking lot for a few minutes, debating where to go. We first tried a Tim Horton's, but there was no seating. So after about 5 more minutes of debating and joking, we headed out to the nearest McDonalds instead...except that I took a wrong turn and so arrived about 5 minutes after the rest as I drove up and down streets that annoyingly had no break in the median that would allow me to turn in the right direction. Even that was fun, as I was driving someone else in my van, so we laughed at our winding little adventure, and eventually did get there.
Inside McDonalds, we all ordered a hot drink, and most also got a muffin or cinnamon bun. We crammed into a booth for 4 with a chair at the end and we talked...and laughed...and joked..and talked..and laughed some more. We got to know each other better and had a wonderful time.
And then when it was time to go home, we stood there another few minutes, discussing how to make this a regular thing. I think maybe we ALL needed a night like tonight.
There are no words to describe what a wonderful time I had tonight, or how good it feels to be building up such a wonderful group of friends. I'm so glad I have started stepping out of my shell...the risk certainly has been worth it so far! :)