Packing it up

This is the weekend of the fall, when I pack 3xs as many projects as I could possible do if I did NO TALKING at all, into my truck, along with the food and snacks and fixings for a group of about a dozen, and drive a couple of miles to our local HI Exp and set up shop. 
This is a girls' weekend.  Some come, some go.  But we craft, and talk and visit, and sew and scrapbook and eat and snack and run out for supplies so we can keep going for the weekend.  For some, the talking is the biggest part.  We laugh and cry and puzzle over missing things.  We share stories and hankies and chocolate.  We do this twice a year.  Once in the fall and once in the spring.  We make messes we don't have to pick up all weekend.  We don't feed others or find missing shoes.  We sometimes have to go cheer kids on.  But there's something to this.  This will be our 27th occasion of this type.  Many years of friendships.  We don't NEED help, but sometimes we ask anyway- what do you think of this?  should I use this pink or this pink?  can I just crop him out?  won't I EVER finish this project?!  And after a few, we started getting shirts printed.  Nothing fancy.  Just something to remind us...from one time to the next...that if we can just hold on a little longer, we can get together again.  There isn't husband bashing, political feuds, or picking.  There are a few practical jokes, several bottles of wine, a couple of growlers of homebrew, and lots of chocolate.  There are the early to beds, and the early to risers, and these are not all the same group.  There are the no-sleepers, and the nappers in peace...but we have come to understand that this is the weekend to take care of yourself, as best you can...to recharge...to encourage...to just BREATHE.
All that said, I have a bunch of packing to do...Yoga pants and flannel jammies and slippers....a few more projects, just in case...and some crockpots, as that's how we cook our lunch and supper on Saturday... The group is small, but the room is full...Laughter and Late Nights and Friends' Love.....just what is needed in this crazy, crazy world....

Our Very first shirts...Miss you, Elaine...we mostly look this same, right Sue Henry??!!