Into a Writer's Head

Sisterhood...

Every once in a while, I attend an event that just makes me want to sit back and watch. Today was one of those days. It began with a phone call about a month ago from Mom. "Would you be interested in attending a Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle Luncheon? The guest speaker is that lady who did the photo books about Best Friends." Seeing as how Federation graciously agreed to waive the requested sponsorship donation for me (seeing as I'm a poor Grad Students), and seeing as how I'm always up for hearing a good speaker, I gave a hearty, "Yes!"
Today's part of the story began about 9:45 this morning. You read that correctly, 9:45 a.m. For lunch! Now, you're probably thinking...What kind of people eat lunch so early? The answer? The Jewish kind. Technically, it's brunch...but brunch apparently does not sound nearly as enticing as "luncheon". So I arrive at Mom's in plenty of time to head over to Seattle to pick up my aunt. From there we drive to the luncheon. An important note here is that we know NO ONE at this event. Mom even received a phone call from the committee putting it together, because they were not sure where to seat us, since they didn't know us. We arrive, we almost check out coats but change our mind when we discover the lobby temperature is roughly 32 degrees. We go into the ballroom when the doors open and find our table. Soon we are joined by an older woman (who we later find out is in her 70's, but did not look older than 60), and another woman who was not at all happy to be seated with us. After a brief moment of wondering if we were somehow giving off an unpleasant odor, she mumbles something to her friend about donations, and why couldn't she be put at a better table, etc. Basically, she was pissed because she was at a table with nobodies, when she felt she deserved to be at a more prestigious table. Well tough bananas to her! After another few minutes of minor chitchat amongst ourselves, we were joined by another couple of women. The ultimate irony here being that one of the two women was from Southfield, the same town Mom grew up in. Even better, they knew some of the same people. So we sit through the meal portion (Um...is this it? How come no one told me it would be fish?), the video portion (Please, feel badly about all the suffering in the world and give generously to our cause), the plea portion (here is where all your money will go, now stuff it into these handy envelopes we're providing) and finally made it to the speaker. Her photos are beautiful, the stories that accompanied them even more so. Truly, this is a woman with heart and soul, and she presents it in all of her work. Sadly, we had to leave before the end, so I never did get to see the rest of the pics from her latest book. All in all an entertaining morning.
Oh! And the best overheard conversation came from the not-so happy lady and the waiter.
Lady: We would also like a pot of coffee.
Waiter: I can't, this is it (places carafe on to table next to us).
Lady: (shoots waiter evil look)
Waiter: The rabbi only blessed so many pots, and we've put them all out. (walks away)

*snort* I love it! Only at a Jewish event will you be told there's no coffee for you because the rabbi did not bless enough pots. Ha!

posted by Erin @ 2:59 PM