Tuesday, July 11, 2006

An Item between friends

You guys? I have the Coolest Friends. Seriously - for one, good old Pete from SightSpeed
called me this morning, bearing Ye Olde Glade Tidings: I've been upgraded to a full minute of videoblogging at a time. Which means that I'm going to need to figure out something to chat about for sixty seconds. I'm going to need a little help, since someone already covered circumcision to lesson the chances of contracting the A.I.D.S., his back surgery, the dearth of visitors to America's national parks, incredibly obese people, and poop.

What possible topics could be left? Here are some things I've ruled out, thus far:

-No, the world does not really need yet another cat video. My sister, the Crazy Cat Lady, and YouTube have got the animal-mania territory completely covered. Let's not discuss the fact that one of the frogs pulled a "Steve McQueen in Papillon" move and was seen making frantic five-inch leaps across our living room floor two days ago. Considering said frogs are a scant five inches long and the predatory felines that live here, it is a miracle that the little guy made it ten feet without becoming a Kitty Snack. I've named him Houdini. However, they tend to hop around a lot, and are a bit small for video purposes.

-I'd volunteer to show off Scotts' adorable new summer haircut, *Schmoopie Alert, please avert your eyes* He's just had it cut very, very short...now if only he'd grow a goatee - I do so love how his ruddy lips are framed by his goatee, but these days it's a bit more cinnamon-sugar than he'd like to admit. *Schmoopie stuff over -but he really doesn't fancy the idea of getting on the Internet in order to humour me.

Back to "I have the coolest friends", though - and really, who doesn't think their friends are The Best? They are so lovely in different ways, all of them - I know I talk about Chiada, her funny husband, and their two dogs, and of course Christie, Bella, Chad and company. There are so many other friends that I don't talk about here - people from near and far that I really value.

The Monterey Peninsula/Northern California crew are too numerous and far to generous to even try to list - in the last six years they've really embraced me, not just as "Scotts' wife", but a seperate entity that they value and respect. As one of them said, "NorCal love, man, NorCal love..".

Up in Oregon, I've got my 'fourth sister', Nat - even though we've always been radically different, we love each other fiercely. Time, distance and circumstances (we haven't lived in the same town in twelve years, she's got two little girls, and it's a twelve hour drive to get from here to there) could have conspired to pull us apart, but we've refused to allow that to happen. We may not be in the closest touch as far a writing, calling and emailing each other, but she's never far from my thoughts.

Only this morning I awoke clad in a bright orange T-shirt that is emblazoned with the words "I'm a Lake to Lake Big Cheese". It was a present from an older friend when I spent the night at her house - I couldn't have been more than five years old. I remembered how it used to hit me just below the knee, how I swam in its' immense folds, how intensely bright it was. I adored my friend Cyndi, who dressed me up in bits of narrow velvet and lace strung with antique beads for chokers, drove me around, took me to late night movies, gave me a Hello Kitty diary I still have. She got married young, has three kids and a consignment shop, lives in the 'apartment' below her large family home that my dad helped build; I see her occasionally.

The Cheese Shirt, as it was dubbed (by another friend of mine, Liz) has endured through moves and closet-clearings, growing softer and thinner every year. On the rare occasion I wear it to bed, I think of all the girls who wore it at sleepovers, how we used to fold our arms and legs inside it and huddle in front of the TV with bowls of cereal on cool summer mornings. It reminds me of how old friendships can last and grow, given the proper support and nourishment.

So - what objects or items do you have that make you think of something or someone, a quality, or a story? Share.

6 comments:

Kay Cooke said...

I have an ornament of a blue jay bird my dad bought me for Christmas the last Christmas we had with him before he died. I have never seen a blue jay (we haven't got blue jays over here)but the ornament is very special to me - even if it is a little cheesy (like your t-shirt but in a different cheesy way!)

Peter said...

an idea? how about: just riffing on what color to dye your hair? or if substance is your thing, how about: Cameroon breast ironing? Not as funny as it sounds.

frkjpa

Eris said...

You want me to be all touchy feeley? Gah. Don't you know me wel enough yet? Okay. Fine. Just for you: Sentiment.

Just this last weekend I went to spend time at my parent's house which is near a lake. I got to take my neice to the lake with my brother and dad and one of the T-shirts my dad had her in was an old t-shirt that my sister and I got at one of his company picnics when my sister was probably the same age or younger than my neice (2). All of us siblings had used that shirt as a beach shirt over the years and watching my neice play in the surf with it on actually made me choke up. You know, the whole circle of life thing or whatever. I will never have a biological child to pass it onto and lord knows if my brother will ever settle down but remembering my dad the way he was when we were all younger and remembering the exact day we got the shirt and then seeing the little love of my life wearing it just about killed me with happiness.

Now I have to blame my leaky eyes on allergies. Topic to discuss? How about no more sentiment for a bit...

Peter said...

oh man that travelmate was hiLARious.

wxzukcc

Maya said...

Yeah...I saw that travelmate thing and was instantly transported back to....growing up with hiker parents. We had catalogs with that sort of thing in it, growing up.

Am still scarred. for. life. and after checking that link, I spent a half hour rocking and sucking my thumb. Heh...

Peter said...

i actually thought about getting one of those for angela, and she was like, "gross. i'd rather just hover."

now i can never use the word hover again without that image.

wxukn