 Mid-Week Ramble |
|
I just hung up with an old high school friend to whom I have not spoken in years. She had a baby in 11th grade, married the father, and had 2 more kids, and we just lost touch. She told me that she hopes her daughter, who's 8, grows up to be just like me, and that she has really fond memories of me as her "piano-playin', singin', wonderful friend." Their house burned down recently, and she found a box of letters that was really wet in the back of a closet but not destroyed, and one of them was from me, saying things like, "It's all going to be okay! You'd better call me when you're in labor!" when we were seventeen. She said she was obviously already emotionally on edge but that when she read that soggy letter, she started sobbing to the point where her cowboy husband came in and said, "What in the hell are you doing!" And she made him read the letter and he said, "She was a true friend." And we had a nice little reminiscing moment on the phone. It's so weird how people to whom you were so close can drift out of your life. I guess that's the story of the world, though. She heard about the wedding being off and I told her that S., whom she's known forever, since middle school or longer, turned out to be not such a nice person, and she said, "Well, you think you know people!" I said, "Yeah, but sometimes you're really wrong." She laughed. I hope we can get together soon. She advised me to go through every room in my house and take pictures of everything I own because you have to write down everything all the way down to the socks and toothbrushes for the insurance company. "Trust me," she said, "if the worst should happen, you'll be glad you did!" Apparently it is a HEINOUS nightmare to remember everything without pictures. I can't believe how upbeat she was about it. "There was nothing in that house that can't be replaced," she said. This girl and I were really close in the tenth grade. We carpooled to school every day. For reasons that escape me now, I was somewhat if not totally estranged from Maryliz. that year. I think it might be because we were going through our The Lord Is Our Light And Our Salvation! phase and she was going through her Carmex shoplifting phase and Mormon dating phase. Maybe? I can't remember. Anyway, she had a giant old pick-up truck and drove it around like hell on wheels. We would go to a barn and ride horses all the time. I don't really know what I remember from our friendship. Cigarettes. Dirty mouths. Country music. Bible reading. Different phases. She's one of the most outspoken people I've ever known and would not hesitate to tell anyone who crossed her to fuck right off. Classmates, teachers, principals, you name it! She went to school until she was right about to burst with child and came back after her baby was born and graduated with our class. She was one tough bitch. I think she was a National Merit Semifinalist. I hope she comes to the reunion. She said she might not because it might interfere with the weekend that her 11-year-old son is showing a heifer. A heifer! God! I really did love that girl. She was a good friend. I remember she had to run out of chemistry class one day because she was lactating and it stained her t-shirt. She never got embarrassed, though. She just raised her hand and said loudly, "My nipples are leaking! May I be excused?" Good times. I'm on the last episode of season one of Felicity and I'm kind of distraught about it. I've been falling asleep to Snuffy Walden's guitar music for weeks now. I guess I'll rewatch Once and Again next. I'd watch Sports Night but I'm not ready to reclaim that yet. When I bought the DVDs, S. and I watched all the episodes, and he'd never seen it before. He would cry out regularly throughout, "This show needs to come back on the air!" We were watching it in bed when the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve. No, I'm not ready for Sports Night yet, which really SUCKS, because it was mine, all mine, and then it became ours. Goddamnit. Reid and I did reclaim the burrito place on Sunday before he left town, though. We sat outside and ate burritos and drank daiquiris and margaritas and it was RECLAIMED. After a weekend of drinking like a fish, finishing it up with longneck Budweisers and baked beans on Sunday night and on Monday consuming a half of a large back of crispy M&Ms, banana bread, a Reese's peanut butter egg, and other assorted sweets, I had a very upset stomach last night. The cats kept following me quizzically to and from the bathroom. Overshare. Yes. I'm wearing a brown checkered skirt today that I bought ten years ago at the Limited. It is cute. And short. I just added The Last Five Years and and Songs for a New World to my wishlist at Melissa's urging. They look wonderful. I have a lingering affection for Norbert Leo Butz and think he might have the funniest name I've ever heard. I thought he was an outstanding Roger in RENT in that he not only stayed on key during the performance (Adam Pascal, I'm looking at you) but did it beautifully and looked great in those tight plaid pants. I love my cousin because he sends me emails that say things like, "Hope you had the day off and did something fun, like squish your toes in the mud or bathe in a spring ... I wonder if you think of Rilke these days."
© Copyright 2003 elb |
|
