The Yada Yada Sisterhood

By Patti Iverson

What do you get when you take 12 zany women, every Tuesday evening, and a pot of coffee? You could get a bunch of slogans: “The best part of waking up...”, "...good to the last drop.". "Mountain Grown", or” Celebrate the moments of your life." Perhaps you'd hear a bunch of dumb Juan Valdez or Mrs. Olsen jokes. At my house what you get is a group of coffee drinkin’women called, “Yadas!”--as in "yada, yada, yada..." The famous phrase evoked much laughter on the television sitcom, Seinfeld. It could've been replaced with "Etc., etc, etc., as in The King and I musical, or even "Blah, blah, blah...” but it seems "Yada, yada, yada...” tickled the writer's funny bone the most, as well as ours. With our group, aptly named The Yadas, we've taken the phrase further in it's meaning.

Yada, in the Hebrew, means, "to know in a relational sense". "Yahweh" is God's personal name, as in "I Am.” Yada Yahweh is an invitation to know Yahweh and to understand who we are and why we're here on this earth. Let me introduce you to our "Yadas" so you can get to know them:

Karen: bright, bubbly and a successful fiction writer/editor. Linda: educated and a former English teacher. Sarah: Linda's daughter and a nurse in Cardiology. Lori: quiet, shy and is writing a historical/fantasy novel. DJ: a western woman with a heart of gold who works at Christian bookstore. Donna: lives at the beach and has written novels about women in the military. Sandy: a "wild woman" who delights in the outdoors amongst the wild things. Jen: a beautiful, hot shot realtor. Max: a preacher's wife helping the hurting by writing about Blended Families. Andi: a lovely poet with a sensitive spirit, Connie: a musical humorist Me: I write a column in this paper, am a clown, and Mrs. Claus. Wow! What a motley crew we are. God put us together because we loved coffee. Yes! We are that shallow. Yes! That is enough of a bond to get women together. But oh, it's not enough to KEEP them together...

Over the years we've discovered our love of all things literary be it from the written, spoken, or musical word. We all are writers, but our more common bond is in the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself. (Well, plus the java) We do not attend the same churches, we don't live in the same neighborhoods, none of us work together, and our children didn't grow up in the same schools. It's kinda wierd, don't ya think? It's God 'n coffee that binds us together. How cool is that? Or hot, as the case may be!

Over a good cuppa joe, each done to our own special taste, we solve all the problems of the world and society. We laugh until we cry, or sometimes cry until we laugh. Issues come up where no one has the solution or answers, but that usually causes us to pray together, which not only helps us, but also honors the God who created the Yadas in the first place. It is a gaggle of women who can be themselves, and not have to "put on a happy face" if it's the sad heart that's running life at the moment. We don't judge one another, nor gossip about anybody else, either. Why, we won't talk about you if you're not there. We'll save it for when you are there, and then talk about you right TO your face! Ha!

Some Tuesdays the Boggle game comes out. Ooooh, you really shouldn't play this game with a bunch of avid wordsmiths! They are seriously deranged with killer instincts when it comes to making words out of little tiles with letters of the alphabet on them. On those nights I'm mostly interested in the coffee and assorted treats. I am not quick enough, nor smart enough to tangle with those” coffee fiends, drinking beans, while wielding minds for wordy finds”.

I found out from the Internet, (such a reliable source), that there’s a 60-70% reduction in suicide among female coffee drinkers and an appreciable reduction among men. Coffee is an antidepressant. Well golly! Who knew? It sure works for the Yada Yada Coffee Crew and none of us has committed suicide.

Sometimes it’s just holding a nice cuppa warmth between your hands and talking your heart out that does the most good in the world, plus the hugs and smiles that join hearts as you share ‘n bare your soul.

How I thank God for the Yada Yada sisterhood, and a really good cup of coffee stirred with laughter and love. It is good to the very last drop, when filtered through the grace of Jesus and really fun friendship.

Patti Iverson writes from Medford, Oregon. randpi@charter.net