Bridget Jones

Bridget Jones' Diary is one of my all-time favorite movies. She's just so funny and so real. Even though I'm not single anymore, I can totally relate to her search for fulfillment and her quest for love (been there, done that). And her occasionally disastrous public speaking skills. "Oy! OY!!!" Classic.

There's a part in the movie when she's getting ready for a big date and she has 'an emergency summit with urban family' to prepare. It got me to thinking about my urban family, you know, the friends who will rally for you at a moment's notice when something major happens, like a breakup, a birthday, or a date that requires an emergency shopping trip. I've relied on these friends SO MUCH for emotional support. They've seen me at my best and at my worst.

But so has my real family, even though I don't get to see them as often.

Here are some of my favorite things to do with my urban family:

1. Sit around with cocktails or coffee and talk. About anything and everything. Men, work, the meaning of life, where we grew up, the famous people they've met (those stories never get old to me...I get dazzled very easily), gossip, etc.

2. Go out to fabulous restaurants for brunch. I love brunch. I think it's a city thing.

3. Go to the theater. One of my urban friends introduced me to the Kennedy Center and now I must go at least once a month. It's the mother ship.

4. Go to interesting attractions in the area that are off the beaten path for most tourists, like the ice skating rink in the sculpture garden or the cocktail party in the museum of African art after hours.

5. Have theme parties. I've had an Out of Africa party, and helped host a Will and Kate party. We had an animal print theme at the former and I wore white gloves and pearls at the latter. Good times.

Favorite things to do with real family:

1. Sit in the living room, drink coffee, watch TV, talk about books.

2. I love, love, LOVE seeing my cousins at Christmas. I love the frenzy in the kitchen, holding the new baby, catching up on the latest, and feeling like we can pick up right where we left off.

3. Doing anything with my grandmothers. Cooking. Eating. Doing various random projects around the house, including watering the African violets, changing a light bulb, making the crescent rolls, stirring the orange drink, and on one notable occasion, helping haul cinder blocks in a wheelbarrow. My 80 year old grandma was better at that than I was. There's just something so comforting about being in the kitchen while grandma cooks. I have especially fond memories of jam making. It has something to do with what I wrote about yesterday...doing things the way they're supposed to be done.

4. Going out to eat -- the foods from back home that I LOVE. My fam always indulges me and takes me to whatever restaurant or fast food joint I want to go to. Sonic happy hour? Chicken fried steak? Mexican again? The choice is mine.

5. Listening to my brother's cop stories. No one has as good a story as a cop does.

What about you? Do you have an urban family?