Friend: Lora Kaup
Activity: Dinner
Location: Allison's house in Bellevue
Total $ Spent: $.88
A medical mystery, a neurotic lifestyle, a strong sense of self, devoted to family, workaholic. Silly and yet totally serious. Allergic to mushrooms and mold, and suffers from acid reflux like an old fat man. I'm not describing myself, but my dear Lora. We met at a Nebraska Shakespeare Festival meeting a couple years ago (was that all?) and shortly thereafter, I hired her to be the Membership Assistant at Joslyn. From our very first conversation about food allergies I knew this was a friendship for the ages.
Originally, we planned to see a free concert at the Slow Down but decided to go a little more mellow. Because she lives in Fremont, she frequently stays with her friend Allison in Bellevue to help ease her commute in the mornings. This is where I met up with her tonight. Now, I mean no offense to anyone when I say this, but BELLEVUE SMELLS BAD. Maybe not all of Bellevue, but everywhere I have ever been in Bellevue has a funky nasty stink. Stank is more like it. As my Great Grandma Tillie would say, "Feh!"
We made a quick stop at Wal-Mart, much to my chagrin. I don't usually got to Wal-Mart unless I absolutely have to. It's blechy. And like I have already expressed, it smelled outside. Once we were finally in the store, we found our way to the frozen pizza section and grabbed our California Pizza Kitchen four cheese dinner. We also bought salad fixins for which my contribution was an $.88 can of low sodium garbanzo beans. Apparently this is the first time Lora has ever realized that garbanzo beans are the same thing as chick peas. Her revelation tickled us both.
Back at the house, Lora pulled out the Presto Maker or Presto Magic. or Pesto Marker, or some such appliance which cooks pizza. As we prepared our salads, she told me about her recent weekend trip to Kansas City and how she was pulled over for having a headlight out and ended up taking the full sobriety test. Imagining Lora in a police car in Kansas City isn't actually as difficult as I might have predicted. She can be quite adventurous when she wants to be. She also recently went from being blonde to strawberry blonde in order to stop breaking the hearts of men. I don't think Left Behind, Allison's fish, is too impressed with her new hair. Then again, he pretty much looks dead all the time so I'm not sure what would inspire him.
Lora is the glue in the lives of many people and sometimes I worry that she doesn't do enough for herself. She apologized for not being "there" for me during my time of woe. She said she feels so pulled in so many different directions that she just can't give me as much time as everyone else. I jokingly said, "Oh really? So where I do fall in this long list of needy people??" And she retorted, "You're 5 okay? Five is all I got!" In all honesty, I have never felt like a 5 in her life. She is one of the most supportive, encouraging people I have ever known. If this is how it feels to be a 5, who needs to be a 1?
As we gorged on our amazing pizza and giant salads, we watched the first half of Grey's Anatomy. Would you believe that 2 petite chicks with tons of food alleriges finished off the whole pizza? I'm not even sure how many slices we each ate but we killed it. And she had the nerve to offer me dessert! We chatted about how things are going for her at the Museum without me, and how my job search is going. I told her that it hasn't bothered me that she has been so busy because I really don't feel like I'm in a crisis. She said she's happy that I seem to be holding it all together well. So far so good anyway.
Her friend Allison came home and the 3 of us giggled like school girls. Lora tried to gain pity for having "freakishly long legs" making it impossible for her to touch her toes. Yeah, you're not going to get pity from me - a girl with freakishly long arms, a large booty, and 2 spleens. Allison has no rump and expected me to feel bad for her lack of junk in the trunk. So I made them go through some basic stretching and breathing exercises, showing them that through proper exercise you can increase your flexibility pretty quickly (thank you Carolyn McDonald). We basically agreed that the grass is always greener because I want a smaller rear but I can touch my toes, Allison is skinny but has no curves, and Lora is long-legged but has a short torso. See? There's always something.
We cleaned up the kitchen without disrupting Left Behind and I bundled up for the long drive back to South Dakota. (For those of you who don't live in Omaha, that is a joke because I live really far northwest. It is funny and ironic and you should laugh now.) Lora told me not to worry about being a 5 right now because I will always have the front seat in her car on the road of life. Yes, she really said that. But I'll give her a 5 for effort.
On deck for day 19: Scott H. I'll be seeing you.......
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