Burnside Cafe Eavesdrop!!

Last Friday I was doing some work at the ubiquitous Burnside Cafe opp UTC in North Parramatta!! A cosy little cafe where you're guaranteed to bump into a colleague, a student, a friend and/or one of the extended familiyt members of the hard working tribe who run the establishment.
I was doing admin work in between catch ups and 'could not' seriously 'could not' help overhearing at least the tenor of the conversation amongst a group of six thirtysomething women in the centre of the indoor cafe area.
They were a cross cultural group of differing social background where there was clearly acquantence across the group with some closer friends than others. At one piont they could havebeen indicating they were a Fete taskgroup or canteen mums from a local school or the like.
I was struck by their conversation about former alternative partners and how they came to be in their current relationships, with the ocassional intimate detail or double meaning joke and lots of laughter. There was clear reference to one of the women's recent or at least still acrimonious break up. Keep in mind I was just reading my notes, making a few additions and quite focused on my stuff but you could sense the pain in the sharing.
At one an anecdote about one of the women led to a story of a former hobby of tarot and palm reading, followed by an encouraged reading of each persons palm. She knew some of these woman well and I was tempted to interupt and suggest a neutral example...
As is often the case in my experience, quite randomly the woman with the most recent relationship turmoil was last to be 'read' and tension was in the air as it was the most strained and cautious commentary of the group.
I write about it here because I was fascinated by the topics, vibe and the dynamics of this morning tea. I wondered what I would say given the opportunity of a throwaway line of a sideways look from one of the group just checking their volume in the space.
The group broke up leaving the now slightly strained looking woman and her closest friend from the group who shared about the specifics of the recent hassles. I tuned out but was so aware of just 'pain'... pain shared, pain not yet understood and one person attempting to steel themselves 'not to be walked over' in relation to some joint decisionmaking.
Keeping in mind I was not actually part of the conversation I will continue to reflect on 'what I was really hearing' for some time... sacred moments of group sharing, caring and journeying together!! Some of the women went home with stuff to ponder from their 'reading' and one went home after a long embrace from her friend. I have known something of that lonely need and the places you go when stuff gets hard. Interesting morning!!