It was a moment like tonight when you realize that’s all it is; just a moment when you are feeling beat down. It will pass in an hour or 3 after the 5:00 rain fell and the storm has passed. You walk outside and are hugged by the evenings humidity aware of the vast Texas sky. Did anyone else see the rainbow? It was there, I saw it or perhaps I imagined it because tomorrow is vacation.
WOOHOO!
She called chanting, “I get you in less than 40 hours. You’re all mine.” The sweet southern twang sang through my ear piece as though she had made a touchdown during a friendly capture the flag game at recess. “Your mine and I am down right giddy jumping out of my skin with excitement. Can you believe we are almost thirty? T..H..I..R..T…Y YOUR MINE in a few days and I might not give you back”
I was the lucky one. 3 different high schools in 3 different states. All of my siblings, except my oldest brother, attended the same high school freshmen through senior year. Junior year we moved to Upstate South Carolina where one afternoon I stayed for a Key Club meeting (dork) and saw Tiffy. Neither of us can explain the feeling or natural selection of the moment we saw one another, mysticism took over. Somehow somewhere perhaps in another life time or chance of fate we knew before we spoke we would be friends. It was my slot in the family and the timing in my father’s career that allowed me to live in various states and allowed me to meet 3 of the best friends a gal could ever have.
We’ve all been friends since junior year of high school when 10:30 a.m. never came to soon. Skipping study hall on our way to Shelly’s to study the fine art of slacker. I jumped in my 1987 740 Volvo – Tiff in her 1983 Olds, Shell riding the comfort of her futon, and Beca running amuck. Tiffy always had to be careful in that car, had she gone to fast or taken a wrong turn the paint would peel away like nail color from a finger nail. Awkward and aware, perhaps a little to smart for South Carolina School Systems we clung to one another like ants to a hill. We yelled and screamed teenage strife while singing NIN, Tori Amos, Enigma, Beck, Dead Milk Men, Vitamin C, Lisa Lobe, and Ace of Base. We cliqued through relationships, study hall, smoking clove cigarettes, drinking hot chocolate, honeysuckles, sweet tea, fried everything, hospital trips, coffee at Denny’s and Waffle House, proms, me running away from the Country Club (20 something times), waitress and hostess jobs, kidney stones, little brothers, fights with older siblings and thinking our parents were down right evil. Things have changed quite a bit over the last 10 years however, I still run from country clubs and we now view our parents as unconditional friends.
The four of us have opted not to go to our 10 year reunion. We missed the point when we got the notification. It’s not as though we actually were ‘present’ except in home room while they checked attendance. I have only ventured back to S.C. twice since I left for California. Becca was away at school in Florida both times I visited. Tis the first time all of us will be together since high school. We are renting a cabin in Chimney Rock, North Carolina this weekend to tube the river, hike, grill, rehash the old days, gain insight into one another’s lives, and figure out why none of us have been able to have a successful happily ever after adult relationship.
Tiffy – Finishing up masters in media communications
Shelly – Best Copy editor this side of the Mason Dixon Line.
Becca- Attorney in Florida – We have some catching up to do
Now that Moorestown, NJ has been named best U.S. town I can’t blame it on my childhood. Drat!
Beware I may kidnap y’all Texas style and bring you back with me
I have asked Ronda to entertain you and guest blog in my absence. Play nice.
