there's no basement at the alamo...

on friday
i got to go to a christmas party
a real live adult christmas party
with martinis & everything...
ladies only
the invitation said that we could invite
a creative friend
& though i have many creative friends
(you know you are!)
my first thought was my friend
jessica aka jmbmommy...
some of you know her
& all of you should read her blog
it is always so funny & inspiring
& creative & fun
she quilts
she gardens
she bakes
she mommmies
she wifes
among other things...

i met jessica in 7th grade
the same year that i met
angie, darci & emily f (that's who she was then:)
but jessica & i were in mr. schroeder's home room
in nehalem
(i will not take time now
to explain what that means...
if you didn't go to
oaklea middle school
you will just have to remain puzzled...)
ah mr schroeder
he was a handsome, funny teacher
reminded me of my favorite teacher
mr. dunn
fourth grade
did kermit the frog impressions...
but this is not about the fact
that all of my favorite teacher were males
no not another counseling session
(though ironic that i am now
married to a handsome male teacher, no?)
this is about meeting jessica

i was new to the school that year
my 8th grade year
at my other school
i had gone to school with the same people
for seven years
& beside the fact that i made
friendship bracelets out of embroidery floss
& sold them out of my swatch case
i was a pretty normal regular girl...
oh & the fact that about halfway through
my seventh grade year
two of my friends took me aside
& said that they didn't want
to be friends with me anymore
because i was too nice
yep...
they are both in jail now
for being big meanies
or that's what i like to think...

anyway
back to the
the new school
i didn't know anyone
& apparently this is a good thing sometimes
i was really tall
& i wore three or four swatches at a time
i loved to wear earrings that
were different but matching
like i had one pair that was a fly & a fly swatter
i loved gumby
& i had these converse tennies
that i had decorated with paper clips
& puffy paint
&
(i swear to you this i the truth)
to this day if i run into someone
& we start talking about middle school
they will always bring up those shoes
hello
yes
that's me
kooky from day one...
anyway
all of this did not scare jessica away
we were in a home room with some of the coolios
tekoah & mark & dave & tracy
but we decided to march to our own drummer
& often that drummer would be pee-wee herman
(& please give us a little credit
this was before 'the incident'
& no i will not be linking to the incident)
anyway
one day
jessica came to school, with a brown bag
& told me that from then on
we would have a word of the day
& we would draw it from the bag each morning
& so
(i am so serious)
we started having a little group of people
who would crowd around our lockers
to find out the word of the day
& then when someone said it
during the day everyone would have to scream
so you would walk by someone in the hall
& say 'that shirt you're wearing is very BRIGHT'
& you would both scream
yes other people thought we were nuts
yes maybe we were
but having fun in middle school just being yourself?
priceless


we were friends through college
& even lived with each other
twice
& then we didn't talk for quite a few years
(yes, i was that good of a room mate
we lived together & then we never spoke again.
nice)

& then as luck & God would have it
(oh i guess that should be the other way around...)
we met up again
& are back to friends
we emailed about those apart years
never actually speaking about it
just back & forth emails with some healing
& crying stuck in for good measure
is that a girl thing?
or just a girls-who-loved-pee-wee thing?

anyway
our two youngest kiddos are one day apart
& we are crafty friends now
emailing great links to each other
& talking about podcasts
& quilting
(i talk about it, she actually does it)
& kids
& life

so friday night
we drove together to the party
& got to talk
& then inside the party
she just was the greatest plus one ever
(i think i will make her a shirt)
i never worried about going to get a drink
& leaving her stranded
she would just strike up a conversation
with who was around
& then i would come back
& she would introduce me
& she is just so funny
& totally likeable
& asks people about themselves
she is just great

as we were driving home
i mentioned this
& she said that she gets nervous
doing that
but she does it because she knows
that other people are feeling
nervous too
or out of the loop
or just don't know anyone
so she just steps out

i love this about jessica
she is herself
doing what she does
but not to the detriment of other people
not in a
'this is just who i am
& if you have a problem with it you can suck it'
kind of way
but more in a
'can't we all just get along'
sort of way
but not at all smarmy...

okay
so bottom line
i love my friend jessica
& i am so happy to know her again
minus the converse & word of the day
(though you won't be surprised to know
that i do have the shoes still...
& if i dig deep enough i just might
find that brown bag too...)

ps i searched for a picture of us in middle school...
no luck
what?
this is not possible
they have to be someplace
oh well
college will have to do...
odd fact:
i could not find a single picture of us
just smiling
& looking like normal girls
we were either squished in with others
or eating corndogs...
come to think of it
maybe that is normal...
:)

pps reading this over
i am thinking of so many great times we had
maybe i should start a 'my friend jessica' blog
i'll call it 'my favorite plus one'
:)

love you jess!
friends forever:)
& since there is very little chance
that we will live together again
i think it will stick this time:)