They say clubs are a good place to make friends

This weekend, I attended two of the best clubs ever.

Friday night was the Modern Widows Club.  It's both an online magazine and a monthly support group in local chapters.

Originally I went because I thought Diane Keaton would be there with a martini.  But I'm going to keep attending to source material for a Chick-Lit series leading to a major Dramady-type motion picture.  Which brings it back to Diane Keaton.

Even if that doesn't work out, I'll keep attending.  I've been looking for a positive support group geared toward non-elderly widows.  And I got lucky: these are strong and lovely women, most of whom have been widows for less than a year.  They talk about all sorts of "widow" issues, like how the label "widow" affects us, living independently, when to take off the wedding ring, and all the things that help us through the day.  Many of them have found hope in God's plan for our lives (still Plan A, even now!), God's promises to us in the Bible ("God sets the lonely in families") and shared examples of things that we are grateful for.

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Tonight, I attended the Seattle Connoisseur's Club.  Not "joined," because this will only be my second of the three requisite three meetings to be a member.  The group is a core of friends from college, and then the friends and family we invite.

I'm a connoisseur of "vinegar".  For my first meeting, I brought the cheapest, worst vinegar I could find.  And every meeting is a slightly better sample.  Everyone tries the food and drink samples, and there is a of hilarious bureaucracy and false snobbery.  Probably I can best describe the group by cutting and pasting some of the minutes from our April meeting (see below).

This meeting was equally delightful.  It was voted that the treasurer (Nate) officially has absolute discretion over the club funds, so technically he could use them to get a massage or something.  My sneaky attempts to get tuxedo t-shirts as the official club was not successful, but next time when I'm a member I'll have standing to bring it to vote!  Dr Joel (the chair) banged his gavel whenever Cheryl (a level One!) opened her mouth.  Two lapsed club members showed up, leading to discussion of how to reinstate them properly.  Alex got to level ten!  The bylaws were amended.  All sorts of hilarity ensued.

Selected minutes from April, for your edification;

Review of items, tasting notes

Katie expressed that Darren is what she would call a “wildcard” or possibly a “maverick”. This was discussed at length. Nathan proposed Darren be the Official Whipping Boy. This was not taken forward.

The mead could be a lot worse.

Cheese was described as salty.

Recap of Theo Chocolate Tour - Hannah, Heather, Joel, Kate, Nathan, Darren. We learned a lot and bought lots of chocolate.  We all got to wear hairnets, Nate wore a beard net, and Joel wore two beard nets in addition to his hairnet.

Confirmation and congratulation
Hip hip hoorah was given for Allen who is now a fully fledged member.
Presentation of ten-year pins: Nathan Skone. Hip hip hoorah x3 were given for Nathan.

Suggested Katie becoming an officer to remind officers and hosts of things like upcoming meetings. Jeff asked if Katie really just lost an election and turned right around and proposed a different position for herself. Yes indeed. “This is how bureaucracies are made”. Second Secretary of the Reminder was proposed as a new position. One opposed (Darren); vote passed. Katie was nominated and seconded for this position and accepted.  Google Calendar was nominated; Google Calendar did not accept the nomination. Katie won the vote!