Lunch and a New Friend

I wasn't quite sure I wanted to go to the Golden Girls lunch, but decided that, since I had responded in the affirmative, I would. Got there at the stated time of 12:30 to find Cheryl (the organizer, plus my neighbor at Colony Parc) and several other women. By the time everybody had come, there were 23 of us. I sat next to Gabrielle, whom I've been with before and Isabelle was there--she's also a member of the widder group. As it turned out, I was glad I had come; there was good talk and good food. More important, there was something I've been looking for: a new good friend: Leatrice.
Leatrice is originally from Boston, is vegan (very slender, natch), was divorced twice, has no children, and lives in town. I'd say she's in her early seventies and she has very short, salt and pepper hair. When she heard I"ll be conducting an acting class in the fall at the Adult Center, she expressed great interest in it. She is an occupational therapist and still works two days a week. We walked out together and starting talking--and talked, and talked, and talked. Almost immediately, we realized we liked and understood one another. We exchanged quite a bit about our lives and pasts, not smoothing over anything or covering emotional turmoil. We stood outside talking for a half hour or so, and exchanged phone and e-mail information. I know I want to see her again and she feels the same. Brought up Catholic, she is no longer religious. (I'm not sure how close I could be to someone who is.) However, she follows Buddhism, which is more a philosophy and way of living, I guess. Although she's very articulate and certainly very intelligent, she told me she fears speaking in public and hopes my acting course might help. I hope so, too. I'm going to send her a message now and suggest we get together.