helvrum@hotmail.com – Page 179

March 12, 2012

Erin

I met Erin wayyyyy back in first grade. I’m pretty sure that we were fast friends. One of my first memories of her is gifting me Melvin Berger’s “Germs Make Me Sick.” At the time I was happy as a clam to have somebody give me a book, but now I’m wondering if she just thought that I was germy. I probably was germy…all kids are germy. (I can say this because: 1. I have a kid. 2. I taught 1st grade and got to see it first hand.)

Anyhow, Erin is in my circle of girlfriends from childhood that I can call upon at anytime and they’ll help me out or be able to remember the smell of the cafeteria, balance boards and the name of the recess teacher that we were all afraid of. She’s that kind of friend….lifelong, literally.

Except for the few years she moved away to Colorado, got married and had two babies, we’ve stayed in pretty close contact. In high school we filled countless notebooks writing letters back and forth, spilling our guts out, making collages and wondering what our futures held. While she was in Colorado we still wrote tons of letters, but the level of frequency wore off with work, babies, husbands and life taking precedent.

But now she’s back with her two kids and husband, Karl, and has set up house in A-Town. I can’t say how excited I am about this, but a funny thing has happened. I’ve found myself not having as much time as I’d like to connect with her. We’ve both got so much going on and sometimes between three kids (her two + Mags) our phone conversations fall short and our play dates are never long enough.

They came and had dinner at our house a few weeks ago and we get to go see them this coming weekend, but I already know that it won’t be enough. But you know what? It’s okay. I mean, I did meet her all the way back in 1st grade, so we’ve got all the time in the world to talk shop. It’s not like she’s a new friend or anything.

March 12, 2012

Long Dates Are Fun

We pretty much had the longest date in the history of dates….at least our dates since we had Maggie a couple years ago. Maggie spent two nights with my parents and Barry and I were left to wander the streets of Seattle trying to figure out what we did before we had a kid and a dog.

It was splendid, but after being home on Friday night for a few hours we both admitted that it was really, really strange without The Morsels around. We got through it though and went to a movie Saturday afternoon and stayed in a hotel Saturday night. Fancy, I know.

We had the longest conversation without interruption….except for the million times I called my mom to see what they were up to. (I’m lucky enough that my mom now has a phone that has the ability to take pictures and send them to me…)

After we checked in to our hotel on Saturday, we were undecided about what to do….and spent more than a substantial amount of time wandering the streets of Seattle trying to decide exactly what we wanted to do. We settled on going to The Whiskey Bar for a sampling, sushi to go, a beer at a mexican restaurant, and a long stop at a book store. Random. We quickly determined that life before Mags must have involved a ton of indecision.

But it was great. I can’t really say that it was ‘much needed,’ since we went on a date just a while ago, but it was very much appreciated. We switched cars with my parents while Maggie was still sleeping, so I think when she woke up to see us, she was a bit startled and confused. Overall, it was a sweet reunion and I missed my girl.

(Side note: We went to celebrate Barry’s grandma’s birthday and with the car switch and what not I forgot my camera. Booooo. Barry had to listen to me complain about it no fewer than 5 times.)

In other news, a super awesome and incredible teepee has now taken over our living room. I’m certain that Maggie would spend all her time in there if she could. Check it out: