Kizz's List, #15: Friends

(author's note: I reserve the right to re-visit this list item. I am profoundly blessed in the friend department and don't think I can limit my posts on the subject to just one.)


I spent yesterday with someone I love and care for very much, and I'm feeling so much better for it.

WeedWoman is someone I was guided by the Universe to meet; looking back on it, I don't think I really had much choice in the matter. She used to work at the health club and I distinctly remember seeing her every now and then but not really thinking much of it: we never had occasion to speak to one another. Then, one night, we were attending the same (boring) staff meeting and the Universe was insisting, rather emphatically, that I introduce myself.

I was, I will admit, a little hesitant to do this. WeedWoman looks, on the surface, to be a crunchy-granola, Earth Mother type, and I'm none of those things. I wasn't sure I could handle a relationship with someone who looked likely to be a strict vegan; I wasn't interested in subjecting myself to the disapproval of someone who lived a cleaner, more wholesome life than I do. Still, I promised myself that I would LISTEN when the Universe spoke to me, so I took the chance, walked up to her after the meeting ended, and thrust myself rather unceremoniously into her life.

She is now someone I can't live without, and wouldn't choose to even if I could. While she does have her Earth Mother tendencies, she is neither militant nor judgmental about them (I remember very clearly asking her, early in our friendship, if she was a vegetarian. "Oh, GOD, no!" she replied, "sometimes a girl's just gotta have a burger!" It was sometime around that point that I knew she was a keeper.)

There are a lot of reasons why I love her. She's smart and observant. She's practical and trustworthy. She appreciates the simple pleasures and she's a walking riot. I cannot spend five minutes with this woman without laughing. She cracks me up all the time, and I do the same to her. I think it frightens our husbands a little bit that we're always laughing together. They don't always get what's so funny. I kind of like that, come to think of it.

I am so grateful for her presence in my life, and am finding out just how much I HATE that she's moved. We're not within easy distance from each other anymore. Seeing one another requires forethought, decent weather and a full tank of gas. Gone are the days of a "Hey! Whatcha doin'?" phone call followed by impromptu lunch or shopping. It does mean, though, that I treasure all that much more the time that we DO get to spend together.