By CHRIS WC
A group of “iron ladies” finds lots to smile about as they eat, sing and celebrate over the years.
IT was simply called Happy Club, a small gathering of girlfriends. This was way before female friendship groups a la Sex and the City mushroomed.
About two or more decades back, we only heard of men’s buddy-buddy groups and their many “men only” activities. Why not us too? We were all successful career ladies in our own right – business owners, directors, managers and executives – intelligent, independent and industrious women. Whatever a man could do, we could, too.
We started out cautiously, though. Everybody did not know everyone. One group of three women who used to lunch together joined another three who worked in the same building. Then in came another with two in tow. And so on it went.
There were finally, a dozen of us. We had dinner and karaoke sessions. We ate then we sang. That became our “thing” and we always had a private room to ourselves, so we would dance as well. Once in a while, we invited “guests” to join us. At one karaoke party, we had 24 successful career women, simply having great fun together. We celebrated each woman’s birthday elaborately, so with 12 women and public holidays in between, we partied every month.
We were all full-time employees working long hours, making important decisions and keeping people employed. Most of us were single; a couple were married with children. We had stressful jobs then, in very much “a man’s world”. We looked forward to the monthly get-togethers when we could unwind, release tension, really relax and temporarily forget the hard tasks that we all had to do.
We worked hard and we played hard. We enjoyed good food and good wine, and we tested all the new eateries. Nearly all of us were good drinkers. We were also mentally very strong women. Nobody ever got drunk in all of those years. Back then, there wasn’t any “don’t drink and drive” rule, so we all drank and drove, in our individual cars. Nobody had any accidents and everybody showed up for work the next day, always and without fail. What wonderful women.
Our group friendship eventually grew. From the initial “just eat, drink and be merry”, we became a merging of minds, a sharing of souls, a network of support, and a kick in the behind, when necessary. Women power at its best.
Some of us helped each other with business-related issues; some of us were concerned about each other’s health and well-being; some of us tried to mend each other’s broken hearts.
Of course, differences in opinions were unavoidable when 12 different women came together. Nevertheless, everyone wanted nothing better than to have fun together. So, our three younger women took it upon themselves to ensure that everybody in the Happy Club was happy.
One wrote, one illustrated, the other assisted. Each month they came up with a short and sassy two- to three-A4-size newsletter about, among other things, the next fun-filled get-together. They selected an F&B manager who was responsible for restaurant reservations and an entertainment manager, responsible for reservations to lounges, karaoke’s, pubs, etc. They thoughtfully created themes for the evenings, each according to the personality, preferences, behaviour and habits of the birthday girl.
We had this branch manager who always dressed super smartly, and smoked. She always had immaculate make-up on and beautifully polished finger and toe nails. Not all of us had full make-up always, but most of us dressed well.
On the evening of her birthday party, all of us had to dress up like her, elaborately and immaculately. Our two managers had collected empty cigarette packages from this unsuspecting birthday girl over time and in each packet, they had put in one cigarette and a lighter. These they distributed to all of us, quietly, with instructions to whip out the cigarette pack after the last dish had been eaten and start lighting up.
This was the habit of the birthday girl. The point was to give her a jolly good laugh. And she did. It was hilarious to see everyone do as she did, when she did. We all laughed till the sides of our stomachs hurt. The laughter continued in the cars all the way back to our homes. No one was a spoilsport, not even the non-smokers.
For the youngest birthday girl, whom we call our “baby”, all the adult women dressed following the same theme – Mickey Mouse T-shirts, short skirts and puffed sleeves, pinafores and baby-doll dresses. It was an adorable spectacle. What good sports!
This cheeky spirit was evident in all of the supposedly “hard iron ladies”. Through our circle of friendship, we learned not to judge until we really got to know someone well and to respect and appreciate each other’s differences well enough to be at ease with each other.
We had a common fund which grew into a bank account. It took us the world over; travels, cruises, shopping sprees, adventure and all. We even had a logo – yes, that round happy smiley face – to remind us always, that in the face of all adversities, we can still smile and be happy!
0 comments: