Rainy Day

We heard we were going to have a "little" rain today and that it would probably not get here until late afternoon. I had plans to go with my friend Sandi out to Ontario Mills Mall to meet our friends Vicky, Elektra and Sandy for lunch. It's about 53 miles out there one-way. Sandi said she would pick me up at 8:30 a.m. because it usually takes an hour and a half to get there, then we walk around the mall and then have lunch.
Well, when I woke up this morning, it was pouring down rain, but the girls wanted to meet anyway. Sandi showed up about 15 minutes late. We headed for the freeway and the minute we got on the on-ramp, we noticed that the traffic was dead stopped. We never did see a reason for it....no accident or anything, but instead of taking the normal hour and a half to get to the mall, it took us two and a half hours.
The five of us wandered around the mall for awhile then went to the food court to have lunch. They sure rip you off at those mall food courts. I went to the Kenny Rogers Roaster and got a 1/4 chicken, 2 sides and a drink and it cost me $9! I could have gone to a "real" restaurant for that kind of money.
Anyway, I have known all of these ladies for a long time. We all worked at Lockheed together at one time or another.
Sandy is the "quiet" one. I've known her for about 37 years. Tried to get her connected with my older brother at one time, but it didn't work out. She married later in life. Her husband also worked for Lockheed and was about 15 years older than she was. He died of a heart attack about 10 years after they married. Sandy never had any children.
Vicky is a sweetheart. I've known her for about 35 years. She and Sandy have known each other since they were 5 years old. Sandy helped Vicky get her job at Lockheed. Vicky is a little teeny tiny lady who has cheated death twice. The first time was a head-on collision several years before she married. She got out of that one with just a broken leg. Then she married Ron, her long-time boyfriend. They adopted 2 girls from Korea because they had not been able to get pregnant, then after the girls got here, Vicky discovered she was pregnant. They had another girl. About 25 years after Vicky and Ron married, they were in another head-on collision together and Ron was killed instantly. Vicky almost died, but she is a fighter and she survived after being in a coma for about a week.
Elektra is a character. I've known her for about 30 years. At one time she was my "boss". She is a gambler. She loves to bet on anything and everything. She is really a good poker player. Seems to win all the time. Elektra has been married 3 times. The first and last ended in divorce. The love of her life was Mike. He was her second husband. Mike died of lung cancer. Elektra never had any children.
Sandi is the computer expert. I've known her about 20 years. She lives close by me. We were never really close when we were working, but since we've retired, she and I get together every now and then. She is married and has 2 grown kids.
We had a fun time even with the rain and the traffic. We are more like family than friends because when we all worked together, we spent more time with each other than we did our families.