I haven't done much social recreation in the last month, and my grandma's memorial is tomorrow, and I've been feeling myself slipping towards an emotional meltdown, so I really felt like tonight I needed some kind of friend-fun to keep me going through the weekend. Today was the first of hopefully many rainy days (California needs the water), so the initial plan sorta fell through due to the stormy wetness, and I ended up going out for gelato (pumpkin!) with a girl friend and then walking our downtown. While the populace mingled in dressed-up, flirty groups in wine-tasting establishments, we meandered down lamp-lit sidewalks, gelato in hand, chit-chatting, stopping mid-street to take moonlit photos (or were they lamp-lit? moonlit sounds more nostalgic) and dodge cars who actually wanted to drive down the street.
After that we drove to WalMart, and while driving we chit-chatted about how neither of us had much of a "life" in high school. I don't think I got my driver's license til I was 19. We definitely didn't do crazy stuff like walk around downtown at 8:30pm at night and then drive to WalMart at 9pm. That actually wasn't sarcastic when I wrote it...but now, it sounds it. *blinks* I was being serious about the "crazy" part. It really did feel a bit adventurous tonight....
But back to high school. It made me reminisce again about something that I did have while a teenager. I had a guy friend, a couple years older than me, who would stop by the house--no warning--and sit on the couch and talk with us for hours, usually about girls he liked. Or he would call me on the phone and say, "I'm coming to get you for ice cream," and then take me out to Baskin Robbins or Cold Stone, playing the Beach Boys on the way home.
I always wanted an older brother, a couple years older, to do stuff exactly like that with me. I'm not sure if I fully realized I got my wish. I was too caught up wanting him to be more of an actual brother, to have more of an official claim on him. I felt the inconvenience of feeling like I had to be dressed and prepared for him to stop by in case he did stop by. I got frustrated that he presumed I would drop everything to go with him, and I gave him a hard time about that (rightfully so! :P). But I still loved being his friend. I'm grateful anew as I think back on it. He didn't have to be my chum. He didn't have to be that kind of friend--informal, completely trustworthy, comfortable in his own skin, taking me on non-dates, paying for my ice cream, teaching me sarcasm and spontaneity but not quite getting me to master the one eyebrow raise. Treating this younger, awkward, non-make-up-wearing girl as an equal and listening to my advice. But he did, and now, even though our lives have moved on, I have happy memories. His friendship enriches my life.
Thanks, you. :) I'm so glad you were in my life all those years.
(And thanks, Mom, for letting us hang out and do things!)
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| alley-photo from tonight's downtown walk |
(to those of you skeptical people with your eyebrow raised, we came from completely incompatible belief systems, thus why it could be completely platonic, and he's married with a baby on the way now)
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