Ugly And Unwanted

Photos today taken at my 64th birthday bash at Heritage Park Nursing and Rehab. No pictures exist of the 50th Birthday party that is the subject of todays post.

On Sept. 5th, on the occasion of my 50th Birthday, which was 15 years ago, my friends, Eunice, Kathy, Bev also known as Lacoochee Kid, and Peg, made  arrangements to buy my breakfast. I arrived at Peaches, the local place to be for breakfast, to find the table decked in hovering black balloons with appropriate over the hill signs/remarks and 4 friends laughing faces. PLUS all the laughing/smiling faces in the restaurant of people we did not know. Not one of us knew on that day that we would become  charter members of the Ugly and Unwanted club.

First let me advise you that my son states I have a black belt in conversation. translation - Mom Talks To Much and often opens mouth,inserts foot. No, I did not hit him when he said it, Truth is Truth. You also need to know I had been active in an Overcomers Meeting for people with addictions at our church for several years.

The Story

We laughed and talked and decided to meet for breakfast once a month on Saturday morning. Three months later we met  for the December  at The Beach Cafe, to have breakfast on the back porch looking at the beautiful gulf beach (remember we live in Florida, so we can do that).

During this meeting my black belt kicked into gear and I made the statement  that might heart always draws me to the ugly and unwanted, whether it be people or dogs. Hysterical laughter and tons of teasing later over the fact THEY were ugly and unwanted, we decided to name our selves the Ugly and Unwanted Club. You might think this would be The End of The Story. NOT

A few days later,our Pastor told his wife someone in our church had complained to him that there was a new club in the church and it was called the Ugly and Unwanted club and that he felt that was not appropriate for a church club. He asked Peg if she knew anything about it.
Peg sheepishly admitted she did know about it and that she was a member.
 She explained how the whole thing started and that it was not a part of the church, just friends having fun. Pastor Said: "please can you name it something else?" and so to keep the peace, we became the U. G. A. U. club. We all new in our hearts we were Charter Members of The Ugly and Unwanted, but could no longer say it out loud.
This story in memory of our friend Eunice Bianco, the instigator of that first breakfast and our sadly missed friend.


And thanks to Bev, Lachoohee Kid for reminding me of it last week.