Many Happy Returns

Hello all for the second time tonight,

I was determined that that last post that I posted literally five minutes ago would be my last. However, it was brought to my attention that my very dear friend Ashley Weil has a birthday today. Happy 22nd love! I hope you have a wonderful day and I hope you get lots of presents and birthday cake! Actually, I saw your birthday present on Facebook and it is beautiful! I don't think I will be getting a car for my upcoming 21st. You could always lend me the one you got a few months ago... Perks of a family member in the car business!

I cannot believe it was a year ago that I met Ashley. That day, I gained a roommate and a life long friend:

I came home from school one day about a week before Ashley moved in. Cassie was already back at the apartment from school. She informed me that we would be getting a new roommate. Ugh just freaking great! So far, Cassie and I had avoided the random roommate. However, we had gotten rid of three roommates recently. One went home to be breastfed for the rest of her life, one was Cassie's ex boyfriend, and the other went back home for family issues. So here we were, getting stuck with a random. Taytum came in and we all pondered aloud what she would be like and what was wrong with her if nobody else wanted to live with her.

Ashley arrived on a particularly nasty day for me. I was sent home from work for being "racist." Really? Me? I am sorry if I got a little touchy when a table full of middle aged church ladies, who just happened to be black, in their huge hats barked orders at me like I was an animal. One lady practically threw her plate of perfectly cooked pancakes in my arms, disgusted because they were not brown enough. The party started out as five, and eventually grew to eight. Cracker Barrel has this ridiculous rule: eight bring a date. This means that if there are eight or more people, you have to have someone else help you serve the party. I didn't think mine really counted since the 8th person showed up after everyone else got there food. Apparently, I was wrong. I can honestly say though, it wouldn't have mattered if these women each had a personal server. They would have been just as demanding and just as picky. I hate to sound like I am grouping people together, but they were that "type." I could always tell if guests were the "type" when I asked how they were doing and introduced myself. If they replied good or gave me something to go on to let me know they were decent people, they were not the type. If they immediately demanded coffee or tea, they were the type. These ladies were definitely the type, making orders like terrorist demand things in hostage situations. "Eggs really done with brown on them" = "I want fifty million dollars and a private plane ride out of here?" In the end, I ended up crying in the freezer after my asshole boss yelled at me in front of all of my co-workers. My friend Chelsea came and found me. She knew I was in there, she knows me too well.

Anyways, I was sent home. I was in a fit that someone had the audacity to call me racist. I grew up in Baker County where racism runs through people more than blood does. But I never considered myself to be one of them. I don't care if you are purple, people are people. Actually, I would probably like you more if you were purple, it's my favorite color. I had tear stained cheeks and was screeching into my phone to my Nanny when I walked up to my apartment. I saw a girl unloading her things and carrying them into my house along with the help of a guy. It could only be one person, my new roommate. She proceeded to say hello and I just looked at her and said, "You really picked the wrong day to move in," and brushed past her. Poor girl. She probably thought she was about to be condemned to a life of a bitch roommate.

Later on, I apologized and explained. I got my first good look at Ashley. She was tall and enviously skinny, and had a cute little hair cut. She had on running shorts and a t-shirt, she must work out. She didn't give me that weird vibe I normally get about people who are sketchy, but then again I never was good about sorting people out for myself, only for others. No weird piercings, she didn't smell bad. Hmm, I wondered why she wasn't living with people she knew and why she picked us? The girls who worked at the front desk of Boardwalk liked to gossip with Cassie and Taytum told them that Ashley had went through a list and hand selected us to be the ones she boarded with. Hmm...

Cassie, Taytum, and I learned that Ashley's birthday was the next day. Without her knowing, we went to Publix and got her a cake. Later that night, we surprised her with it. We all became friends instantly while we sat there talking and eating. A bond only a cake like that could have created. I think she was touched that three girls she had known for a little more than a day would recognize and celebrate her becoming 21.

Ashley's friend came to town. Apparently, she was from the middle of nowhere a few states away and was ready to throw down with her newly 21 year old bestie. She did what any good friend would do, got her drunk as skunk and held her hair back later that night. Cassie and I went somewhere and came in to see her holding a mop bucket on the bed puking. Poor girl! It was a sight though, one that I frequently laugh about because she tried to reintroduce herself to us.

We figured out there was nothing wrong with Ashley. She was as normal as any of the rest of us. Probably more so really. It was her jerk roommates who she was trying to escape from that led her to us. So thank you assholes, you lost an incredible friend to us.

Now here we are a year later. Ashley has graduated from FSU and doesn't live with us anymore but we all still talk and we miss her so! Many happy returns girl! I love you and miss you and Taytum being here everyday! Please make it up for my bday if you can. I may need you to hold back my hair and prevent me from introducing myself to people I already know!