Golden Goddesses

So. I just made the worst pot of coffee ever. And by just, I mean, I made it hours ago, but it was awful.

I don't know what is so hard about making coffee, but after yesterday's heavenly Starbucks, this sad version of the stuff is kind of depressing.

Which, is the opposite of it's purpose.

Plus, I was up before Zach this morning (Amazing in itself....) and so I was very excited to make the coffee before he left for work so he could take some with him. And then I felt bad.

He texted to say it was fine. But. I'm not so sure. Plus, I learned something about him this morning. Yes, after twenty years of knowing each other, I finally learned this morning that he prefers his bagels plain.

Not in like, the plain bagel sense. No, I have known for a long time that his fave bagel is the Everything Bagel. Which is also my favorite.

No, he likes his Everything Bagels with NOTHING on them! What? I know! I'm like, don't you want cream cheese?

No thanks.

Well, what about butter?

Nope. I'm good.

Ok... Peanut Butter? I mean, it's a stress with the Everything part of the bagel, but at least it's something.

Nope, I like them plain.

Are you kidding me??? How do you even eat it? Doesn't it dry out your mouth? I'm sorry, that was weird to me. Apparently I married a man that likes bland bagels and bad coffee.

How will we ever go on?

Just kidding!

So, this blog is also later in the morning than usual and I will tell you why. The very first thing I had to do this morning was email a friend. And my emails are lengthy. I mean, look at my blogs! But this email was a Necessity!

Ok, I have literally re-written this line like twenty times. And I think that means I just better keep my mouth shut! Oh my. It's all good things of course... but I don't know how to.... blog about them.

:)

Stryker's down for his morning nap and he is the most precious thing in the world ps. Yesterday he had a really rough day. The poor thing puked on himself, I changed his clothes, then he dumped an entire cup of (cooled) coffee on himself, so I changed him again, and then I didn't get the lid on his lunch cup correctly, so he dumped apple juice all over him too!

And then I changed him again.

Plus, he just had a rough day.

So. He neeeeeeeeds a morning nap today.

And I was playing with the girls, until Scarlett looked up at me and said, Mommy, can you get out of here please? We're trying to play.

Psssht. Fine. I guess.

How rude! Right?

Anyway, so here I am blogging. Mid-morning, when I should probably be doing the dishes in our now fixed sink!!!!! Hooray!!!! But, why not procrastinate? I don't have anything else going on today besides this house! And maybe some editing. And that's it. Until I go to work tonight.

I can't even dread work tonight. One, because I only have two nights left of it. Woot woot. And Two, because afterward I am meeting up with my sisters-in-law and we are pre-gaming a little bit before Breaking Dawn!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, yes, the midnight premier!!! What? I know! I'm so excited!!!!! And not necessarily for the movie, because lets face it, I'm really not fourteen, although some days I hardly remember that.... and I liked the books, but I'm not a crazy fan. I mean, like Zach likes to remind me, I am almost thirty. I have no place in a midnight movie showing, after waiting in line with girls half my age. But. I can't stop myself.

Kylee, Kellie and I have gone to every movie together and read the books together, so it's a tradition for us! We might not be screaming and swooning the first time we see Rob Pattinson on the screen, but we will be sharing popcorn, and talking non-stop through the whole thing, loving every minute of it!

Also, gosh, I haven't done a girl's night like this in a super, super long time! So, it will be nice!

I know my age. But it's sure fun to not act it!!!

Plus, I don't think I will every out grow high school antics! I mean, TV shows, books, movies. I love them all.

It helps that I had an AMAZING high school experience! I just loved high school. Loved it. I had the best group of friends ever, and our school was so small, and the teachers were (most of them anyway) so fantastic that there was nothing not to like.

We had this group that one of the girl's dubbed the Golden Goddesses. And we've ever since referred to ourselves as the Golden Goddesses.

Oh yes, we did.

There were eight of us and it wasn't just high school that we were together. We have known each other FOREVER.

Char, came in tenth grade, but we immediately loved her. Ok. That's not true. Our class only had twenty people in it and so us girls were not always, or ever, nice to new kids. And I do feel very bad about that. I'm pretty sure we weren't very nice to Char at first. But eventually we warmed up to her. And by that, I mean, fell in love with her! She is the sweetest girl. Our junior year, she didn't have a date for prom... ahem... we didn't have prom, what I meant to say is Banquet. Christian school and all, dancing was Absolutely prohibited!!! :) Anyway, so her sister set her up with a guy from the college she went to and we thought she was the luckiest girl in the whole world, getting to go to banquet with a college guy. Plus, he was good looking. But then, they actually liked each other. And kept dating. And now they're married with their second child on the way. It is the sweetest story and she deserves the happiest life. She also, was the only other girl in our group with a serious boyfriend in at the same time I had one, so her and I became close muddling through all the glory of high school relationships together, staying up late, talking and trying to figure out what was normal behavior for guys! If I wouldn't have had Char, I don't know if I would have ever figured out what to do in a serious relationship, or felt that I wasn't a complete basket-case! Whew.

Kristie also came in high school. And I don't even know how to explain her to you. She single-handedly has the ability to make me laugh until I cry, just Thinking about memories together! Don't even get me started on what we're like together! Oh my goodness, that girl. We played soccer together and we had this thing, (Because we were defense and awesome...) where we would call to each other and be like, Kristie, I'm a bull, and she'd be like, Rachel, I'm a bull and then we would put our fingers by our temples and kick at the ground and then charge people. It was out of control ridiculous. And I thought it was just a joke, until during one game, she actually charged another forward from the opposite team. Oh yes she did. And she totally knocked the girl over. And the girl got up. And Kristie knocked her over again. The ref, I'm not even kidding you, was like stunned. It took two more times before he gave her a yellow card. And I was on the field laughing so hard, I could not even stand up straight! And don't even get me started on our junior year, band tour, ski trip. It definitely involved her stabbing Bethany in the mouth with her ski pole on accident, tumbling all the way down the mountain and flashing some poor guy who was trying to help her up after she face planted in the snow! Oh that girl. After we graduated, her dad passed away suddenly of a heart attack. It was devastating. He was the best man. The best father. And I'm going to be honest, it was not fair. Still isn't fair. The other seven of us, immediately packed up and moved in with them for at least a week. I don't know if we helped or hurt the situation, but we were sure as hell not going to let our dearest friend go through that alone. We lost touch for a couple years once we got into college, but when I found out I was pregnant with Stella, it turned out she was also pregnant with her first. And then our dearest friend Ashley was pregnant too! We reconnected as if no time had passed and now our kids get to grow up together too and I'm doing my best to convince them they need to be at our alma mater.

Hillary came in eight grade. And she is from the South. She has the cute little accent and loves leapord print, as I imagine all Southerners do! :) She was the smartest of us all. As much as I hate to give up that title.... I have to be honest with you. She was my accountability partner for a while. And if you don't run in Christian adolescent teen circles, that means someone who helps keep you out of trouble! She was the reason, indirectly, that my family moved to the church we go to now. She convinced me to go on my first overseas trip to Peru, where I fell in love with other cultures and traveling and relief-work. We made up dances together to obscure Christian pop, and dressed up like clowns for the little kids together. We played with sparklers on the Fourth of July, far away from our home Country and then when we got back home, we used that trip and our church to get out of school as much as possible. Like, lunches with our youth pastor at Fazolis. We were in 11th grade and it was the first time I realized I had a lisp, when Ty Pennington looked at me and said, "You say your "s's" cool." No, Ty, not cool. I have a lisp. Dang it!!!! She has this laugh that is so contagious that you can't help yourself. And she has this unmoving resolve to do what's right, all the time. It can get annoying. No, I'm just kidding!!!! It's what makes her her. And it's beautiful. She also had this cat that was obsessed with me. Whenever there were sleepovers at her house, I would always wake up to that darn, fat cat sleeping on my chest, trying to suffocate me!!!!!!!! And I would push it off and it would come back and I would push it off and it would come back. It might be the reason I hate animals to this day! Hillary's whole family moved back South after high school, so I haven't seen her since the summer after we graduated, but this December I am SO very excited to see her again and meet her husband and give her a big, giant hug, which says a lot coming from me! :)

Charis, came in junior high too. Ok, I'm going to be honest, I don't actually remember when Charis officially joined our class! She home-schooled for elementary and my mom had this policy where home-schooling families could join band. And so she did. And played the flute with Bethany and Bethany. And we just adopted her from that very first band practice. She is so sweet and so universally good that we felt it was our duty, our mission in life to corrupt her! :) She was too strong for us though. And she remains one of the sweetest, most lovely people I know. She recently reminded me of a story. We all wanted to go see one of the midnight premiers of the Lord of the Rings and she wasn't allowed to go to movies. So we convinced her to call her dad and beg him. Of course, being the stern baptist minister he was, he said no. And so. Instead of a movie, we went tee-peeing!!!! As if that was better....? Oh, my word, we absolutely LOVED to tee-pee. It was like our thing. And we were not good at it. And we were certainly NOT quiet! But we had so much fun, and died laughing and found creative places to not pee our pants (Ahem, Creek) and were chased by vengeful boys with paint ball guns and somehow convinced Charis to join us! Charis is engaged now. And she seems so happy I just swell with my own joy for her! We don't see each other as often as I would like, but the minute I found out she was dating someone, I demanded that she come back to Omaha and have dinner with us, so that I could meet him. And they are the cutest couple. I just wish her the best and all the happiness in the world.

In our group of friends we had two Bethany's. And not just two girls with the same name, their last names both start with C. So, this particular Bethany came in junior high. We didn't like her at first, I'm not going to lie. And I can't really tell you why, all I can say is that we are girls and that's what girls do sometimes. Her dad was the boys basketball coach and for some reason we felt a rivalry. Anyway, it wasn't long before we completely got over that. And she is the one who dubbed us the Golden Goddesses. She also holds all of the videos we took from senior trip, which might one day be very incriminating!!!!! Well, Kristie has videos too, but she has lost them, or she will tell you that they are "somewhere" and none of us are surprised! Bethany has really, really long arms. And with those long arms she used to do this thing that is maybe my favorite thing of all time!!! We call it the gorilla. And before I die, I demand that she does it again for me!!!!!! :) She is my friend that got me the job at the maternity store. She is wonderful. The most generous person. And I love her to death. And she got pregnant at the same time I was with Scarlett and so now our girls can grow up together too, and be mean to other girls, or not, maybe they will be better than us! But either way, Watch Out World!!! She is the one who comes up with devious ideas and encourages us to follow through. She also remembers everything! Everything!!! Except of course when she tried to date Zach while I was already dating him!!!!!!!!!! JK, it was mostly her mom. And I was never mad about it. Nor did either of us take it seriously. I mean, neither Bethany or me. Zach just loved the attention. :)

Ashley and I because friends in fourth grade. And that was it. We've been friends ever since. We sat in the very back row of class and passed each other notes from fourth grade on. We look a lot alike. She was the only other girl in my class with hair as impossible as mine, only hers is naturally blonde. And mine is mousey brown. And not nearly as pretty as hers. She is Zach's cousin, actually, so when Kristie and I found out we were pregnant together AND THEN found out that Ashley was ALSO pregnant, we about died. I mean, that's something you talk about in high-school, all being pregnant together, but not something you actually expect to happen. We were blessed enough that it did happen to us. And now our kids are cousins. Growing up, Ashley's parents kept their camper in their back yard driveway, so when there were sleep overs at Ashley's house, we slept out there. And watched Scary movies. Oh yes, we did. Either there or in the other Bethany's basement. Why? Because back then, with those girls, I was brave enough to watch scary movies. Now, looking back at those times, in a camper, outside, watching Children of the Corn and then going swimming at midnight in her pool after the movie was over, I have NO idea where the courage came from! But with those girls, it always seemed like we could do anything together! Even face Mike Meyers after a marathon of Halloween. Ashley is one of the best mothers I have ever met. She is a very strong woman and I just think the world of her. And I'm so happy she is in my life and I can actually say we are related now!

Finally, that leaves Bethany. Bethany and I have known each other since second grade. And were best friends on. That is a long time. There is hardly a memory of my childhood that doesn't involve Bethany. Our houses were as interchangeable as socks. We did everything together. And I mean everything! Band, choir, ensemble, leadership conferences, trips, field-trips, basketball, volleyball, summer camp, NHS, seriously, any and all of it, we did it together. We both hated speech. We both hated drama. We dissected together. We were natural partners for anything. If there was a field trip anywhere I was riding in her car. We are both stringent rule followers and at the same time we don't really believe any rule applies to us. Oh yes, we are above the law. We are equally late to EVERYTHING. Neither of us could be called.... organized. And we have the art of procrastination DOWN. We love to travel. We love all things outdoors. We were the best of friends. We lost touch after high school, but recently we got together for frozen yogurt and it was one of the best moments of my adult life, reconnecting with such an important childhood friend. All of these girls hold a special place in my heart and when I lost touch with Bethany that place she occupied for all those years was never replaced. Between the time we lost touch and got back together, there was never a friend or person I met that knew me as well as she did, or shared my personality so similarly. She is my Diana. (Anne of Green Gables, anyone?) And now we're adults and there is a lot of life between us, so I will take any form of friendship I can with her. But my friendship with her has been life-changing, in that I am who I am today because of how I grew up with her.

Actually, I can honestly say that all of those girls had some of the biggest impacts on making me who I am today. They are all gorgeous girls. And we had the best life together. There are too many good memories. And I want to share them all with you!!! But, this is long enough right?

Ok, just one.

When we were in high school we did a Christmas party together, and drew names and exchanged gifts and Nancy Jo(the mom of Bethany trying to steel Zach away from me! :)) hosted it and gave us gifts too and made her Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe and we decided that day that we would do this party forever. We would never lose touch and always be in each other's life. Well, we did it again when we were freshman in college and it was a bit awkward since we were all moving in opposite directions. And that was the last one.

Well, this year, I decided it was time to do another Christmas Party. So I called Bethany and I said, will your mom host???? And her mom said yes! (Also, our moms were as much a part of our group as we were and I love them all equally as much!) She is hosting it for us, making our favorite soup and letting us all come together again in her house! It's the Golden Goddesses with Wine, childhood friendships all grown up. And even though we are all adults now, and some of us are married and some of us have kids, and some of us are on our way to those things, and some of us have aspirations of traveling the world, or having careers, we will get together and we will laugh until we can't make noise and crying for hours and hours, and remember the good things about our past and probably a lot of the bad too, we will share secrets and dream about our futures while together, we will exchange gifts and assume none of us have changed and fall back into those memory-making-moments we grew up with. We are all coming, even if that means coming from far away, and we are putting these beautiful friendships back into important places in our lives, even if it's just for one night. Even if we don't see each other again for a year, or even ten years. These girls are a certain, distinct and wonderful kind of home for me and as they say, Home is Where the Heart is.

Rachel

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3 comments:

  1. How exciting! Thank God for the "bosom friends" He puts in our lives, even for a short time. How blessed when they are still there over time! Hope you girls have a great time together.

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  2. Hi! I just wanted to say that I'm a big fan of your book series and I can't wait for the next one! I found your blog after I read the first book and I've been following it anonymously for a bit before I finally decided to make my own blog. I'm really new at it and would love for you to swing by and let me know whacha think about it (if you ever have a spare minute, which I know are few and far between). I've been writing a book for a little while and I'd be thrilled to pick your brain about publishing and whatnot.

    Anyways, the link to my blog is: http://www.polkadotimusso.blogspot.com/

    Thanks!

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