Friends in Low Places

Hello all from the Loft,

My weekend at home has been splendid. When I leave Tallahassee to come home to Glen for the weekends, it only takes about five minutes of being here before I think okay, it is time to head back to the city. There really isn't anything to do out here except for relax, and it can get boring real quick. However, that is exactly what I needed this weekend. Not that I live a particularly stressful life or anything, I just wanted to be lazy and be by myself. Which I did, very successfully.

Can I talk about something that gets on my last nerve? Of course I can, this is my blog. A lot of people complain about being by their selves on the weekend or really just in general. I hate seeing people post their phone numbers on social networking sites like Facebook, and the status that goes along with it is often something like a newspaper ad for friends. Get your ass off the couch and go make some friends old school style before some crazy stalker gets your number, finds your house, sneaks into your window at night, slits your throat, and takes some of your hair for a shrine. Yes, I watch far too many episodes of Criminal Minds. Or just appreciate the time you have with the friends you already have. Speaking of friends you already have, it might be wise to revisit some from the past.

In the midst of sleeping for unreasonable hours and spending quality time with my shadow, I got together with some old friends. I love seeing friends from a past life. They always have the best, and sometimes most shameful stories that they remember about you. And they don't spare a detail just because you are sitting in a room full of other people, no matter how embarrassing that detail may be. Nothing like reminiscing about how someone's mom called you a whore for sitting on their lap on a chair on the front porch literally doing nothing. That was back when I was sweet and innocent. Whatever would she think of me now? Actually, he reminded me that I started talking to him after kissing him at a party my boyfriend at the time took me to. The boyfriend and I had only been together for a few days... Maybe I did have slutish tendencies?

Most of the people I spent time with this weekend were boys. Boys are the best to hang out with, they make everything fun and carefree. Trek was one of them. Ole Trek decided to tell me about something that I hadn't known about. For some unknown reason, this fine specimen of a man (now and then (it's okay for me to say this because the boys wanted to know which of them looked better. The girls decided they were all lady killers)) liked me when he was in the 8th grade and I was in the 7th. I say some unknown reason because I do not think I was cute at all. I had these ugly streaky blonde highlights in my hair. I seriously can't understand why my daddy agreed to let me get them. I guess he was just giving me what I wanted. Everyone had them so maybe it wasn't too bad in a crowd of people.

We can't remember if I was actually dating a boy named Chad or if it was before we dated for like two weeks and he just liked me. It was Valentine's Day. Anyone else remember those cheesy little Valentine grams? They were cheap carnation flowers with a card that you could write a cutesy little note in. Apparently, Trek received one of these tokens of affection, and teased Chad that it was from me. It wasn't from me, but he just said it was to make Chad angry. They almost got into a fight because of this. Poor Chad was not very big at all and Trek was outrageously tall for an 8th grader. It wouldn't have been much of a fight I am afraid.

These stories had us rolling with laughter. I laughed until I cried for some of them. I had forgotten some of these crazy tales and I love to hear that someone else remembers them for me. It was the best weekend I have had in a while. I guess that man in Ronnie's who "senses things about people" was right. I had an incredible time.

In the past month, I have gotten a few confessions of middle school crushes. What the heck? Why couldn't someone have told me this back then? If I had half the prospects that I apparently had back then but didn't know about until now, now, I would be in serious business. I miss middle school sometimes. It was so uncomplicated. If you broke up with someone and two days later someone else was with him, that was okay. If you made an F on a test it wasn't potentially ruining your future. The worst thing that happened was your dad took your phone away or you couldn't go to a friends house after school as punishment for something.

High school is a totally different story. On one hand, people are hateful in high school. You gain friends and lose even more. You get your heart broken, a lot, and in turn break a few yourself. You become a bitch, a whore, a loser, or whatever all because someone heard you did something that may or may not be true. Apparently, I lost my virginity on a weight bench in the weight room. Nothing about that story is true. Not the bench, not the guy, not the year, nothing. I could blog about that story, it is quite a tale, but I don't think I will. On the other side, you make the best memories you will ever have. You will meet people who will give you stories to tell for years and years to come. You will have nights you can't believe you made it out unscathed and laugh about them secretly with the people who were there with you. I like to think about it, but I don't think I would ever do some of it again. I wouldn't change a whole lot if I had to relive it. Some stuff maybe.

Overall though, I think each experience has been a life lesson that has made me who I am today. I look at it like this, I have a story to tell now. Everything that happened in the past is something I can look to for guidance now. The stories we all told this weekend had us rolling with laughter. I laughed until I cried for some of them. I had forgotten some of these crazy tales and I love to hear that someone else remembers them. It was the best weekend I have had in a while. I guess that man in Ronnie's who "senses things about people" was right. I had an incredible time. It's like that movie Perks of Being a Wallflower, "One day these things will all be stories, and our pictures will all become old photographs." We will grow older, but our stories will remain forever. Through them, we can be infinite.