Today, I had the privilege of lunch with a friend. It was wonderful to connect. I love lunch out.

But, recently I missed the opportunity to have lunch with another girlfriend who I haven’t seen in person for more than a year. Things came up for her at work which seems to be the case when we schedule time. I miss her.

Dear Friend – You know who you are … Let’s not let too much more time pass. Let’s get something new scheduled.

But every time we schedule lunch I am reminded of how over 7 years ago I labeled our 2 hours away from the office in the middle of the day:  The Lunch Ladies.

I want to be a Lunch Lady. Not in a hairnet, food service kind of way, serving up hamburgers and fries to middle schoolers. But I’d like to modernize the term. Shift our thinking about what it means to be a Lunch Lady.

• Remix!
• Remaster!
• Redefine!

When I say Lunch Lady, think instead … lady who lunches. It’s an event. An event that seems to happen daily.

During our 2 hour outings at the local eatery here’s what we would observe that led me to this repurposing of the term Lunch Lady:

• Women gathered over good food and bottles of wine.
• Beautiful women who don’t have to work outside of the home because their husbands’ incomes allow it.
• Beautiful, thin women whose main responsibility is taking the kids to and from school.
• Beautiful, thin, fun-loving women who get to enjoy friends in the same stage and station of life.
• Beautiful, thin, fun-loving, smart women laughing out loud.
• Beautiful, thin, fun-loving, smart, stylish women spending their time exactly how they choose.

Lunch Lady? Yes, I want to be one … beautiful, thin, fun-loving, smart, stylish, and spending my mid-day meal over gourmet food and a fine bouquet of wine with close friends, before I head off to pick up kids from school.

With the exception of enjoying a long lunch with good company, the reality:  I wouldn’t want to be home full time. I wouldn’t know what to do with my time.

Besides, are these women’s lives perfect? No, of course not. But the illusion of perfection is very attractive.

With 40 being the new hotness, the Lunch Lady icon can definitely be re-imagined.

… I dream of the day when I too can be a LUNCH LADY.