I am pretty sure I just had the best weekend in a long time. I am still a little red wine cloudy mind you, but all evidence leads me to believe I am a whole lot happier today then I was yesterday. Puffy hungover self and all!
A friend from long ago, came to visit and brought wine. Lots of wine! She is the same beautiful girl from our youth. The heart God gave her is as big as Texas and her nature makes you think she really gives a damn about you. She has the longest legs and the years have not lessened my jealousy. I have a brief moment of my insecure 20 year old self before opening the first bottle of wine.
I try to remember when I last saw her; 8 maybe 10 years. We are women now but our overlapping laughter doesn't indicate this. We trip over each others words; the 'oh my God' and 'you've got to be kidding me' and the 'you wouldn't believe' compete for space at the table.
I borrow the golf cart and take her for a ride after first filling over sized plastic cups with more red wine. We ride to the creek and we talk about her broken heart and my sleeping heart. We talk about how men suck and how we wished one was in our lives. Well, one for each of us. We laugh. Her laugh makes me laugh. We are out of wine so head back. And though we each have an extra 20 pounds in our pocket we don't realize why the cart won't go up the hill. We get out, or she gets out, and discovers we have a flat tire. Out in the middle of the woods, 1/2 way up the hill, with a flat tire and we are at first just a little mad we are out of wine.
We call to be rescued and are only slightly embarrassed. My mother and her husband show up and think we are funny teenagers. Hell, we think we are funny teenagers. To thank them we sit on their porch and drink their beer and homemade peach wine. Or was it watermelon?
Then I remember the pot roast so we head back to my house. Refill the wine glasses. We eat; she treats my food well. It makes me feel good. I am feeling a mix of giddy, gossipy teenager, nurturing friend and brokenhearted grown up as we talk about the dreams we have had that didn't come true and the dreams we are trying to make for ourselves. I tell her how lost I got in this life because all I have ever wanted was to be a wife and mother. And I am neither. She tells we how she doesn't understand why they have broken up and doesn't want to be alone. We both talk about the terrible world of dating and realize we are not alone in this journey. We have just been too far apart for too long. Two kindred spirits struggling on our own.
We take a shot of bourbon and we cry. And we laugh about how we are crying. Open another bottle of wine and say 'to hell with it'!
There was more crying and more laughing, then there was just no more wine. Cindy announces 'I just have to go to bed' and I laugh some more. Morning comes and we have puffy eyes and are still a little drunk. We take a picture of our inventory of empty bottles as a little badge of honor. We laugh some more and eat some more and eventually reach for a recovery beer.
When it is time for her to load up and head home the tears start to well and the throat starts to swell. I miss her already and surmise that everyone on this planet deserves to have a Cindy Campbell in their lives. A girlfriend you may only see once every ten years but are still allowed to let out a good cry and laugh till it hurts! All my dirty little secrets sit safely in the bottom of a nice Cabernet.
Recipes: a beautiful friend and good red wine
Roadtrips: don't let the miles between you separate you...
Renovations: I am so inspired, tomorrow, I lace up the sneakers and start running again...cause I am reminded I have someone to run to!
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