I-Diddly-Ho

Tonight I am headed to beautiful Boise, Idaho for a very fast get-together this weekend with my best friends since high school. There has been a lot of drama surrounding it which I won't get into that has made me a little nervous about going, but overall I'm excited and really looking forward to the break from reality. Maria and her daughter Bailey (my goddaughter) fly in first from Portland, and I bust in about an hour later - all as a kind of late birthday present for Tammy. It really works out as a gift for all of us to get to see each other since we usually can't afford the time or money, and our birthdays are all within less than two months of each other. We always say we want to try to get together at least once a year, but spouses, children, careers, and all of the other daily goings-on in life make it kind of hard for us. As a matter of fact, Maria and I have never even met Tammy's daughter Emily and the girl is three years old, so it's going to be nice to get to all hang out with our families. My junior-high mentality (which has gotten me into trouble recently) already has Tammy's son Brendan marrying Bailey in about twenty years or so (they're both six). I'm only sad that (1) circumstances are as they are regarding some stuff that we're all trying to heal through (including my role in hurting the feelings of another friend we were all supposed to see but now aren't; yes, I suck); (2) we couldn't afford to get two tickets, so The Dude will remain here while I'm gone, penniless and stuck with only hamburger patties and microwave popcorn to eat, with the now broken-down Deathscort staring up at him mockingly from the parking lot - the ONLY time I will ever admit that I'm glad we bought our landbeast of a truck; and (3) that I won't have any babies of my own to bring along (again, husband staying at home). This is the first time I have ever actually been remotely sad about not having any kids, and it's weirding me out just a bit too much. I blame the recent death of two of my most favorite plants (one of them maliciously DROWNED by my husband masquerading as someone who actually LIKES plants) as the impetus for the whole maternal stirrings THING, and I am now swiftly moving on from that.

Especially because I have bigger things to worry about. Namely, the donning of a swimsuit in actual public. You know, public: where people, WITH SIGHT, will be?!? Lying in wait for their prey, disguised as STRANGERS WHO DON'T GIVE A SHIZZ but are secretly aiming their camera phones right at the Gut-Butt-Thigh region (the "GBT") and sending the pictures on to their friends, daring them to "come up with a caption for THAT!!" Wow. Good thing I've been working on my self-confidence issues. And how nice that I plan on taking an extremely bright-colored orange and yellow sarong that my mom brought me back from Hawaii a few years ago and wrapping it discreetly around myself because that will TOTALLY deflect attention away from any aforementioned body imperfections. Oh yes. The plan is all coming together perfectly. This will be all day Saturday, while we are all out bopping around the lake on Tammy and Mircea's boat and acting like we have any concept of how to waterski. The Friday beforehand, we ladies will be going to "tea" while Mircea has gallantly offered to take the kiddos to an amusement park. Throw in the remake of "When a Stranger Calls" - the original movie we tried desperately to find in high school and never could - and anything else we can cram into less than 72-hours, and it should be a fun weekend. It would be a lot more fun if I'd had a payday before the trip, but eh - what can you do?

It will be madness and mayhem, and as Tammy has said, "we all need each other now, more than ever."

I hope - I know - it will be fun.