My Best Friends

I have been so happy. Not news, I know. But for the past two weekends, my best friends visited me, with their families, which was even better than having them all to myself.

I have a few people that I apply the "best friend" label to, but most of them have other titles as well. Husband. Sisters. That kind of thing. And then there are a few people that are "just" friends, but they're the kind of friends that I will text at 7 AM or midnight to discuss important things like "How brilliant is Steel Magnolias?" and "Why do children prefer sitting in large amounts of feces to a simple 60 second job on the potty?" and they don't curse my name. To my knowledge, anyway. And of course they are the first people to hear my good news and my bad news and my it's-only-news-to-me news.

I haven't lived in the same state as Leslie since college. We lived together for three out of four years there and people used to think we were twin sisters (despite not looking that much alike) because we were always together.

No kids looking at the camera. Par for the course. Aren't they so darn cute though?

While we kindasortabutnotreally look alike, we aren't that much alike in terms of our personalities. True to form, Leslie blogged about this trip about two days after it happened. And when I talked to her about it, we both laughed because we agreed that my blog would be three times later and three times longer. This is why she always did the bills in college. And I think it's why we are still such good friends. There is no danger of me living in an echo chamber with Leslie around. She will always have a point of view and be willing to share it with me, and I value that immensely.

I had to include the Graydon photobomb.

Together we have five children under five, so predictably we spent most of our time regulating the spawntourage.  It WOULD have to be the one really icky weekend of the year, so we made a very brief beach visit and then did indoor things like bowling and a museum trip. And we tried to hunt down doughnuts, which was surprisingly difficult and hilarious. We ended up with cupcakes and we were delighted OK with that.

Sand. It's so fascinating.

Sam and Rocky were BFFs. It was the cutest thing ever. When Sam left, he cried a few tears over leaving Rocky. And Rocky pooped in G's room. That's love.

They enjoyed bowling a lot. Thank heavens for those ramps. 

And for no broken toes or fingers.

I wish I had a video of how excited Graydon was about this endeavor. This was a rare still and quiet moment. It makes sense because bowling involved balls, knocking things over, and loud noises. If we could have involved breasts somehow it would have been his favorite activity of all time.

Checking out an aquarium at the Museum of Science and History

Always teachin'

This isn't really focused, but I love the dreamy underwater quality.

See? Teaching.

Graydon was fascinated by everything.

See what I mean?

Love this. All the babies looking at Daisy May, the possum.

Why is G so excited? Because he's discovered an enormous map. No DNA tests required here, folks.

If the days were all about Mamahood, the nights were all about hashing out the problems of the world and the church. We stayed up way too late, drinking wine, debating, and reminiscing on the past decade. Remember how I said we aren't that similar in personality? It always makes me for some friendly banter and thought provoking chats. But we agree more than we disagree and that is always a lot of fun to rediscover and reaffirm. And every time she leaves, I always think, "That.was.awesome."

Tim actually made an interesting comment about our visit. He said it was fun to watch us together and that a few things that I said made him raise his eyebrows. And I immediately worried that I was rude or something, and he said it wasn't that I was rude, just that I was totally myself with Leslie...more so than I usually am with most people. He said it was like watching us (me and him) talk. And I think that sounds about right, because we all used to joke that Leslie was the female version of Tim. Don't even get me started on how annoying it was to play Apples to Apples with those two in college. Frickin' "rain" is NOT more inspiring than "Beethoven". Common meteorological phenomenon vs. "Ode to Joy"...anyway.

I appreciate so very much the efforts that Leslie always makes to stay involved in my life. She calls, she texts, and most importantly, she works hard. When I come home, she makes time for me. And she visits, no matter how far away I've moved and no matter how many children she has to tote along for the journey. That's so important and frankly, kind of rare.

Which is why it's awesome that I have TWO friends that were willing to trek down here with their families. 

Sidenote: This was actually supposed to be a reunion weekend with all of my girlfriends from college, but a big storm in the Midwest derailed some travel plans and then we had to scramble to reorganize for the end of March. Fortunately (for me) the Barrs had already paid for the hotel so they drove down anyway. Thank you, credit card gods. 

I actually don't remember meeting Ashley because we were too young. She has just always been there, kind of like she is a sibling born before I had developed long term memory. That makes me so happy, by the way. Apparently, we met in the back of a pickup truck at a softball game at roughly 9 months and 3 months of age. That sounds about right for Thomasville, so I believe it.

Like Leslie, Ashley always stays in touch for the big and the small things. One of my favorite texts of all time came from her, when she said "I kid you not, the cops are directing traffic at the new Bojangles that just opened." I need to know these things.

And here's Ashley's Apples to Apples antecodote. "Helen Keller" and "lucky" were her most famous picks. I think everyone at the long table in Mazie's Roost burst out laughing because why in the hay is a girl born blind, deaf, and dumb lucky? And then we all felt slightly ashamed because Ashley explained she thought she was lucky to find a great teacher who helped her unlock the world and her potential. This should tell you Ash is way nicer than me.  And also that she is exactly the kind of person who should be in the schools (and she is!).

This makes me happy beyond words.

Addie and Ben (Ash's son) took to each other right away. Even though Addie persisted in calling him "Baby Ben", he didn't seem to mind. There was a lot of shrieking and running in circles and only a few pitched battles over who was going to snuggle with cupcake blanket.

We went to the zoo and the beach and had great weather both days (sorry, Leslie). It was almost too hot, but that was not a problem for me. I like my weather to err on the side of hotness.

Hi.

There were cool animals at the zoo and you could actually get quite close to some of them, but the water fountain was the biggest hit.

Goldfish, perhaps also hungrily eyeing small children

Hungrily eyeing small children

Everyone is attempting to climb in here

We had a great time chasing babies at the beach (I forgot my camera) and watching the Tar Heels game together. Aaron is a big time fan too, so Tim and I enjoyed that a lot. I'm not sure how Ashley felt about it, but 1) she is used to it and 2) she was drinking wine so I think it was OK for her. This weekend's quest for Greek food somehow ended up with us a club bar restaurant with good food, but extremely loud music and extremely animated dancing and partying. Lots of older ladies in leopard prints on the tables. Our kids were fascinated. So were we. 

All of the activities were fun, and I'm glad we did them, but my favorite thing about both weekends was just getting to watch my kids with their kids. We are so blessed to have great friends in Rochester and I'm used to watching my babies play with friends. But there is something so special about watching friendships in the second generation being formed. It's precious and a totally unique experience. After all, this is not family or work, where you pretty much have to interact for the sake of a greater entity, regardless of your personal feelings. It's something that happens organically, because both friends want that relationship. And we want our kids to know each other too. And so bit by bit, year by year, more layers are added to our relationships.

That is both "lucky" and "inspiring", I think.