Far Away Friend Five

I'm in one of my favourite places today: a local high school's library. It's my favourite place to sub (although if you happen to be a reader that works at a different school [and you know who you are], I love you guys too). Anyway, I'm writing at lunch and between projects so this may seem a little choppy...although for random Friday Five day, I suppose that doesn't really matter.

1. I haven't talked to BFF for two weeks. It's not because I don't like her anymore, but because we are both so immersed in our own lives that we haven't really had time. I feel like life is going to fast and I'm missing stuff in her life and that when we do get a chance to catch up it'll be one of those "here's major things that are going on" instead of the minor everyday stuff that I want to hear. I miss her, like, a lot.

2. You've read Malison's name thousands of times, but what do you really know about her? Did you know she has a blog of her own? http://lilyreinvented.blogspot.com/ Did you know that she is one of the most generous people I've ever met? Did you know that she was the reason that I was able to quit my full-time office job? Her and I occasionally have lunch together, even though she doesn't live here. I go to my favourite restaurant and it doesn't matter what she's doing, she'll stop to have a text conversation so I don't have to eat alone. She's pretty wonderful is my point.

3. Before I was married or even dating X, I worked with a girl that I became very good friends with. She was there when I started dating X, she was a bridesmaid when I got married, she came to the hospital when the boys were born far too early, she met a boy and spent one of their first dates babysitting my kids. And then her and that boy started getting pretty serious and she moved to that dastardly town three hours south of here to live, marry, and have a child together. We kind of lost touch but stayed up-to-date through facebook and Christmas cards. Recently, she was in town visiting her family and she had a couple of free hours to go for coffee. I really enjoyed that visit and I really hope her mom lets her come out and play again next time she's here.

4. One of my very best friends growing up moved to a different province the summer before grade 12. One time, when we were about 15 we went to her house after school and decided to make a snack. We set her oven to broil, chopped up some potatoes and realized that we were missing an ingredient. We stole her mom's car, drove to my house but parked around the corner then ran to make it look like we had run the whole way. In the short distance that we ran, she managed to trip over a crack in the sidewalk (she was, though, the most graceful of clumsy people. She is really tall, so I always thought that her feet were too far away from her brain making her the clumsiest person I know--stories for another post). Anyway, we got the margarine, ran back to the car, drove to her house, and walked in the door. The house was filled with smoke. Apparently, her family stored their pans in the oven. And some of these pans had wooden handles and with the oven on broil they were quite burnt. She freaked out so I slapped her (?!). I still see her sometimes, every few years. I like her.

5. And last but not least, my former boss. Near the end of my time at that company, our working relationship was a little strained, but our personal relationship was as good as ever. Even though she's over 10 years younger than me, we seem to have a lot in common. She is a very thoughtful person; one year for my birthday I planned to have a party at my house. (Yeah, I planned my own birthday party. What of it?) She came over early that day with all the leftover alcohol she had at her house from parties she'd had, she helped clean and set out food and made sure the backyard was set up. She was there to make sure my hair was done and my clothes matched and really just a sweet and generous friend. She too moved away to that awful city that steals my friends. I miss her.

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