Wednesday, March 25, 2009

"If you'd rather give up than fight, then nothing will really be worth it."

Five bucks if anyone can name the movie that line is from.

GalPal and I were BFF throughout high school and college, even standing up in each other's weddings. Not too long after her second wedding (don't ask) and my first, I was chatting with her mother about random stuff. I had stopped by BFF's parent's house to return the crinoline slip that I had borrowed to wear under my own wedding gown (something borrowed, something blue). Having such a long friendship, BFF and I knew each other's families pretty well.

A few weeks go by and I'm opening mail that arrived while I was out of the country on vacation with my husband. It's a letter from BFF. Strange to get a letter from her since she lived only a mile or two away.

In short, BFF decided that we were no longer friends. Apparently, she heard second- or third- hand that I had said something about her second husband not being good enough for her. My mouth dropped open. I know I never said that because I don't remember even thinking that. In fact, her second husband was a distant relative of mine and I'd never even met him until he starting dating BFF. I didn't know enough about him in his pre-BFF days to have much of an opinion at all.

I tried to figure out how this all started and I can't imagine who would've told her such a thing. But we'd been friends for over 10 years at this point so I was sure we could talk about it, clear it up and we'd probably laugh about it in years to come.

No phone call.

Ever.

So just like that, I've lost a friend. I've lost my best friend - someone I could tell anything to. Someone who would laugh so long and so hard with me that we ran out of breath at the exact same time and then started laughing all over again. The first person you call when something fantastic...or horrible...or funny happens. That person.

Executed without so much as a trial.

Years have passed and she's crept into my mind occasionally, wondering how many kids they have (since she's wanted to have a baby ever since we met in high school). I've even come across her name on the internet.

But I've made no effort to contact her. If she had put one-tenth of the value on our friendship that I did, she wouldn't have abandoned our friendship without a fight.

Oh, the line is from "The Wedding Date." Good movie, if only for the music.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The Hello Goodbye Window

I need to preface this by saying that I'm not in love, haven't been in a long time. I haven't been crushed by some random fella either.This is just the observation that resulted from some recent conversation with someone I thought I could trust.

It was the name of a children's book, one of the many I re-shelved tonight on my volunteer night of service. It made me think of all the things we thought we knew when we were young...and stupid.

With age comes wisdom, right?

When you are hungry, you eat. When you are tired, you sleep. When you have to go pee, you go pee. Basic bodily functions that we all understand.

Is sex just a basic bodily function? Just a way to relieve stress, anger, frustration or whatever ails a person at that moment? Nothing more?

Throughout my life, I've met guys who seem to categorize sex as a basic bodily function. No emotional attachment, no intimacy (or as little as you can get away with until she's naked), much less committment. Just something to do for fun and function. Just remember to wear a rubber!

Granted, there are women who feel this way about sex, too. Call me naive, but I think most of them make a ton of money off their attitude. This reminds me of a saying I once heard, maybe you're familiar with it: 'Men give love to get sex. Women give sex to get love.'

I met so many men with the sex-for-fun attitude that they all started to blend into one another, like zebras in a pack. You'd think by now I'd be able to spot one a mile away.

Nope.

Spring? Yeah, right!

So I stopped into my local Subway to grab a quick lunch. I've been to this location several times recently because 1) it's close to my office and 2) I had coupons (yes, I'm all about saving $$ where I can.)

When I ordered red onions on my sandwich, the Subway worker said, 'not kissing anybody today?'

'Not today, not yesterday and no plans for tomorrow,' I answered without missing a beat.

How sad is that?