After a holiday-imposed hiatus, the Dining Divas gathered on a damp winter’s night in Chicago’s Chinatown.  Moon Palace* was filled to capacity with diners enjoying the Mandarin and Shanghaiese specialties;  the addition of 7 Divas eager to fill a news gap of nearly two months brought the noise level to dangerous  new heights.

Conversation first centered around our collective relief that the holidays were over.  Some of us reported undecorated homes; others did the whole deck-the-hall routine, but without much enthusiasm. Family gatherings were nice, but many of them were endured, not embraced. Why was this? we wondered.  Was it due to the gloom that hung over the economy and every newscast throughout the holiday season? Or was it a subconscious rebellion against the rampant consumerism that brought our country to nearly the brink of disaster? We couldn’t agree on any single reason to our malaise, but we were united in our relief that the holidays were packed up and put away for another year.

With that came the shared sentiment that 2009 was better off over. It wasn’t that any of us explicitly suffered in the economic downturn. Sure, belts have been tightened and finances monitored perhaps a bit more closely, but none of us had lost a job or a home.  So why did 2009 seem so miserable? We decided that we had collectively allowed the constant drumbeat of doom to get under our skin. And therefore, we decided that a change was in order. We could choose despair, or we could choose optimism. It is entirely in our control.

Mary is a perfect example of our new found commitment to optimism. She originally thought she’d miss our Diva dinner because she had tickets to a Dave Mason rock concert for the same evening. As she pulled away from the curb, she felt her brakes give out. Without her car, she was unable to get to the concert venue.  Her first reaction? “Now I don’t have to miss the Divas!”  She quickly called Chris and Linda, and hitched a ride to Chinatown with them. “Well, I was already dressed up and ready to go out!” she laughed. And she reminded us, “Rose always says, even years are better than odd years.”

For this new year, our commitment to ourselves and to each other is to choose optimism over despair whenever possible. Optimism can be contagious, and that’s a positive virus to spread around.

We eventually got around to discussing health—not ours, but our spouses’. Why is it, Dawn wondered, that men refuse to see the doctor? Her husband has been putting off the task of locating a physician and making an actual appointment.  Chris, our registered nurse, said she has the same issue with her husband. Are they simply in denial that they are “men of a certain age?” Is it fear that post 50, they will have no choice but to make the dreaded first acquaintance with a colonoscopy?  I was pleased to let the Divas know that my own spouse made his first visit (in seven years!) to an internist earlier that very week, and had received a clean bill of health (that, and a referral to a gastroenterologist for his colonoscopy). Dawn scribbled the physician’s name on a scrap of the paper tablecloth, and vowed simply to make an appointment for her husband.  We agreed: Leading your man by the nose seems to be the best/only way to get some them to the doctor.  

Dear readers: If you have found other solutions to getting your man to the doctor, please share them in the comments box below!

With the delivery of fortune cookies, our rambunctious dinner came to a close. Please read our fortunes aloud, as we did, with the words “… in bed” tacked to the end. Enjoy!

“A pleasant surprise is in store for you.”

“The sure way to predict the future is to invent it.”

“Your spirit of adventure leads you down an exciting new path.”

“Your secret desire to completely change your life will manifest.”

“Time to break out of that corner, unstuck that rut.”

“You may have sudden and surprising opportunities.”

“Your companions are your mirrors and show you yourself.”
 

* Moon Palace

  216 W. Cermak Rd. – Chicago

  Chicago, IL 60616

  312-225-4081