I mean, it's not good, but it's not awful.
How does one say goodbye to a friend of 14 years?
From the outside it may appear as if she was only my 7th and 8th grade teacher, but the reality is so much more.
Let’s start from the beginning.
You know how there’s always that one kid that’s better friends with their teacher than their classmates?
The nerd who gets all their jokes and hangs out with them at recess?
That was me.
I blame it on the fact that my siblings are way older than me so I get along better with people who are older.
G Wigger and I bonded over the TV show Friends – the first of many shows we bonded over – and it went from there. I used to write her notes and draw her pictures. I’m pretty sure I was the favorite cause she let me where sunglasses indoors. Again, nerd.
When asked about that later she responded “you have to pick your battles.”
She put up with my tantrums when it came to math – it was not my favorite subject – and even after school got out we stayed in touch. Jump forward a few years and you’ll hit where the nerd in me decided that Jim and I could take over Camp J – no problem. Ha!
We invaded her classroom almost daily for an entire summer cleaning out boxes, updating files, creating schedules, assigning counselors, stuffing lanyards, and then sorting t-shirts and sending out mailings. She called herself Camp J’s “number one fan” and helped out even though she avoided the actual camp like the plague.
It was during all this Camp J prep that 2G was formed.
Every year my old high school hosts a golf tournament as a fundraiser for the school. We decided – having no golf experience whatsoever – that we would start a team of our own and compete. The team was made up of Pastor (our leader and the only one with actual golf talent from the start), Jim O, G-Wigger and myself. We came up with the nicknames Blackstone, Dash Riprock, Homey G-Wigger, and Choot ‘em Lizbet, respectively.
Eventually we’d put those nicknames on bright orange t-shirts so you could see us at all times.
Though, we were told, you didn’t need to see us to know where we were cause we were the loudest ones there so you could hear us from across the course. But hey, our drinking team has a golfing problem – what can we say?
Two out of the four years we’ve competed I was unceremoniously thrown from the cart. Though that might have been partly my fault since I was leaning out to grab wayward golf balls.
Plus I had to save Bertha. Don’t ask.
But it was worth the bumps and bruises.
Golf isn’t the only sport 2G competes in. Softball is actually our specialty. We play scrappy but we dominate. Every game G-Wigger and I would warm up together and after every game we would stop for icecream.
We told her that since the golf tournament is in the summer that she should come back for it every year, however since softball games are usually on Sunday nights in the fall that won’t be an option.
Our team will never be the same.
Sports weren’t our only thing recently. We’d go to movies – see post “At least the baby stopped crying” – or out for jalapeno margaritas.
The adventures are so numerous she even has her own tag. "Homey G Wigger". And only my favorite people get their own tag.
So how does one say goodbye to someone who’s had such an impact on one’s life?
I could thank her I suppose. For sticking with me through the good times and the bad. Tell her how grateful I am for all the times she was there for me. Not just for math but for everything.
But I still feel like that that doesn’t begin to cover how much of an influence she’s had on my life.
So I’ve decided instead of goodbye, it’s just so long for now. We’re gonna pen pal it up. And it’s not the end. She’ll be back for big events – confirmations, golf, and a wedding if it ever happens.
And that makes it easier.
Okay, on to happier, less emotional things.
Took a trip out to Illinois to visit the BFF. Sketch and Edit’s Excellent Adventure. Take Two.
Or is it three? Whatever, either way it rocked.
Minus the 9 hour drive it took to get there, that is.
We jammed. Made camo cake.
Check it out.
Gotta have orange frosting with a camo cake. It actually tasted pretty good.
Other cooking adventures included booze popsicles. Looks like sherbet, tastes like vodka.
Holy crap those were strong. It probably had to do with the fact that it wasn't just vodka it was also mixed with tequila. Knocked us on our butts.
Non-cooking adventures were catching up on Grey's, and we watched a bit of Raising Hope.
Which I’d seen part of like one episode one time, so now of course I had to check out season one from the library. It’s actually quite entertaining.
And then of course we hit up the races cause her boyfriend has a car. Like in the races. With a driver. Who's pretty good. Got second in his heat, but then it got rained out. So we jammed in the trailer. See Facebook for pictures.
It was good to see her. It had been like a year. Or two. More like two.
That should change.
What else? The boyfriend and I are doing great. We’ve been going to a lot of races lately. We hit up the World of Outlaws the other day in Greenwood and my guy won! After I had bought his t-shirt. And it’s awesome, it’s like a pit crew shirt with all the advertisements on it.
Plus he signed it.
I was proud that I picked him and that I got the shirt before he won the race instead of after. Plus he beat the guy who always wins and you gotta root for underdogs.
Races aren’t the only fun things we’re going to, a few weeks ago we went to my sister-in-law’s surprise 40th birthday party. The surprise part being the event we dragged her to Omaha for. It was a Murder Mystery party at a hotel – professionally done, it was fun.
We all had to pick aliases. I was Regina Philange.
Make me proud people, make me proud.
Mom was Cher. Dad was John Wayne. After picking the killer’s name as his alias and being told it was already in use (but not told it was the killer) the boyfriend went with Dr. Emmett Brown from Back to the Future.
I know, how does one pick the name of the killer out of the like 80 million names available? It was amusing.
The problem with their setup was that you had to be paying attention to nametags to figure out who-done-it cause the detectives who were supposed to be solving the crime did nothing but distract you. But that’s okay, we went for the fun of it and it was fun, even though I was forced to walk the cat walk to prove my innocence.
Long story.
This week we went fireworks shopping. And you know me with my fireworks. Hit up my mother ship. aka the Dorm Mom's stand. Got some good deals. I'm stoked!
After the 4th he and I are taking a trip to Iowa for another motorcar excursion so look forward to those highlights....
What else?
College World Series! My team won! Go Black Gold! The Cool Aunt was also for Vandy so anytime they did something good we’d text “black gold!” We saw them play live one of the years we went so that’s what we like them.
And speaking of a lot going on, I’ve been working tons on camp stuff. I’m getting excited, it’s coming up! Again this year we have more boys than girls but that may change since they have ‘til July 7th to turn everything in.
I'm really excited for my 7th and 8th graders skit. No HeeHaw this year but they're still singing. Don't worry, they won't hate this one.
And Smo is coming this year. I'm so excited! Gonna be my Skits and Worship helper. Which is good cause there will be lots...
Scale of Awesome’s for you:
Edge of Tomorrow
Scale of Awesome says 7/10. Interesting premise but not a huge fan of Tom Cruise.
Bowfinger
Scale of Awesome says 5/10. So horrible. Yet funny.
300
Scale of Awesome says 5/10. Am I the only person on this planet that didn't like this movie? I feel like it. It's only redeeming quality?
Gerard Butler. And the "This is Sparta" kick. That was badass.
On to the music:
Strong Enough - Cher
a month later and it's still in my head. awesomeness.
and one for an upcoming concert:
From Me To You - Beatles
so excited! debating what my favorite Beatles song is. this is one of many. Probably Hey Jude. Maybe Yesterday. Blackbird. Day Tripper. Paperback Writer. Hello Goodbye. Let it Be. Love Me Do. Yellow Submarine. She Loves You.
Too many good ones to choose from...
And I'm out. I promise it won't take me another month to post.
No comments:
Post a Comment