My side of the line
Claremont Chamber luncheon

By Rebecca JamesCourie
Editor-in-Chief

Never underestimate the power of women.  Once again the Claremont Chamber of Commerce’s Ladies Luncheon brought together more than 50 outstanding women—this time at Upland’s Sycamore Inn.  The men of the chamber have moaned and groaned about not having their own luncheon and—although they tried—it’s never happened.  Now, they want to crash ours.  They also believe that the luncheon should have a speaker.  What they don’t know is what happens at the luncheon.  No, there isn’t a secret handshake, a ritual or incantations murmured en masse.  What really happens is unspoken.

Hidden agendas and power plays melt away as women share how another woman’s business helped her out, or how another woman’s life has been changed by the support these fabulous women have given her.       Sure, we talk about what’s happening in our business or the businesses we represent.  But, it truly goes deeper than that.  It’s a sisterhood.  It’s compassion.  It’s funny and it’s endearing.  It’s like a good book that you pick up once a month and dive into a great chapter.  It’s like a best friend that you haven’t seen for a while and, when you finally do, you both fall back into a fun relationship as though you never left.  You don’t have to say anything and yet these women know.  They just know.  And because they know, whatever you’re going through is just a little more bearable. It’s part of being a woman and it happens at these luncheons. 

No, I just don’t think guys would get it. They’d try, sure.  But, I just don’t know if they could capture the essence, the specialty, the uniqueness.  It’s truly too remarkable.

Here’s to the ladies who lunch!