Monday, July 18, 2011

Ariel's Ode

Blog, today is my friend Ariel's birthday. Oh if only I had all the picture memories of our friendship saved on this computer so I could include them here on you, Blog. But alas, all I have is words and some random photos of us on the beach from when I visited her last year on the west coast...

I am a giant next to Ariel. But not as giant as Haystack Rock.

What a strange and lovely little person she is...
Very strange and lovely. You put us in the same room as a hurricane lamp and shit gets real yo.
 
Ariel is the only friend I have left over from high school. She's an interesting friend because she's managed to become very close and long term friends with my friends from college, even though we did not go to college together. Her likable personality allows me to meld together high school, college, and beyond when it comes to my friends. It's almost as if she's the weird, flighty glue that holds us all together.

Yeah, that's me, Ariel and her boyfriend Chris on a mountain. But really Blog. She's friends with Bemidji and Minneapolis folk too. I just don't have the pictures on this computer to prove it.





Today Ariel turns 28. I remember 10 years ago when she turned 18 I picked her up from her farm full of chickens, goats, sheep and a donkey named Thistle who loved the smell of exhaust and we drove out to the field runoff that is called Golden Lake to spend the day on the beach. Our little North Dakota lives were so simple and we were so easily entertained back then. We just drank soda, ate donuts, and stole Little Mermaid t-shirts that we'd find on the "shore". It's funny to think about all the stuff that's happened to us both since then. We got email, bachelors degrees, boyfriends, and cars. Then we got rid of our boyfriends and our cars, and got new boyfriends and cars. Then I moved to the city, she moved to the coast and eventually became a vagabond to the point where Kerin's dad asked if she was ok the one time he met her randomly in the Minneapolis skyway as she lugged a pillowcase full of her belongings. She's gone to Hawaii, I've gone to Europe. She talks about sealife, I talk about masters degrees. She does yoga, I do theater. And here we are, half a continent apart, still the same old friends that can go to the beach together. Only these days it seems we frequent the Pacific Ocean more than Golden Lake. Sometimes change is a good thing.

Here's to you friend. Salt in your eye, guess what... chicken, good night God, good night Jenny, I love you both. To two person games of Clue, Mrs. I harmonies, and Dr. Who scarves. To the oil gloves and the oil room and all the lessons you've taught me about the crazy sea life that exists on the Goonies rock. You are the one friend I have who I've considered the best for the longest. I hope in 10 years our kids are getting together, playing soccer, and eating at that barbeque we've been planning since we were smoking swisher sweets on the roof watching shooting stars and talking about how crop circles seem to frequent the month of July, particularly the 18th of July. Happy birthday friend.

You're the only person I know who actually wears sunglasses over glasses.

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