Last night I called my husband to say goodnight and tell him I loved him. He is usually the first person I talk to when I get up in the morning and the last one I talk to before I go to bed. We did our usual routine... "Going to bed, luv ya, talk to ya in the morning, yada yada yada." and I hung up. About 10 minutes later he calls. He is real serious and says "I just wanted to let you know how much I love you". I start in with, "Did I say something wrong? Is everything alright? Do you have a patient?" Because usually there is some kid or woman in the ER in critical condition and he starts thinking of me. No, just wanted to call me and let me know he misses me and loves me. (aaawwee).
So lying in bed I started thinking about the first person who told me they loved me that wasn't related or I wasn't dating. You know that person that becomes a very close friend that is a 2AM friend that you can disagree without fighting, etc. I guess I was in my late 20s working at a hospital and I had worked with this one woman for many years. She lived right down the street and she and I use to take breaks together at work. Her life style and mine were completely different. She wanted NO children, I wanted 6 (I was young, full of energy, and had delusions of grandeur). She smoked and had recreational products, I didn't. She was a liberal and I was a conservative. Somehow, these polar opposites became best friends. She was the first friend to ever tell me "I love you." I didn't quite know how to take it but it was something that changed the way I look at friendship. We were friend for 15 years. Carol died last year in her sleep of unknown causes at 45. She and I went through a lot together at work and when I moved we kept in close contact. Carol was absolutely hysterical. She and I would set the office up for pranks and we found humor in some of the oddest situations.
The Dog Story
Carol and I both had a fondness for the burritos at Acapulco taco. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a diner, more like a storage shed in the middle of a parking lot. I am sure this place violated the majority of the health codes of Albuquerque but Carol and I would make many lunch trips there together risking e-coli and a gambit of other stomach bugs.
One warm, sunny day we got our meals and there and were leaving the parking lot. There was a Rottweiler dog chained to the front of the contemporary furniture store. After carefully making her left turn onto San Mateo, Carol began ranting about the injustice being done.
“Did you see that poor puppy tied up outside. He never has any water or shade. You can tell he is starting to get a sunburn because his little chest hairs are getting redder. I am going to call the ASPCA and report them. It makes me so mad when people treat animals like that…”
She paused and looked over at me at the next stop sign.
“Why aren’t you saying something?” I was at a loss for words, how could I put this to her so she would understand and believe me. Quietly I said
“because it’s PLASTIC”
You could see the little wheels turn in her head. In order to settle this quickly, she turned the truck around and headed back to the store. As we slowly drove by the “Poor puppy” again, I commentated
“Notice how it never pants, lies down, looks around…. MOVES???!!!??”
Now it got really quiet in the truck as we approached our work. She looked over at me and asked “Is there anyway we won’t mention this to Maggie?”(our boss)
I smiled, put my hand on the truck’s door handle and said…
“Race ya to her office!”
The BIRD Story
One day a good friend of Carol’s who happened to be a drug rep came up to the office. Carol introduced us and they began talking about their lives and family, etc. They were in my office and my desk faced the window (this is important later in the story). I was turned around in the chair away from the window listening to the dialogue go back and forth.
The drug rep was telling Carol this story about “Birdy” and the new mastiff puppy. Birdy was a talking bird (Carol could probably tell you what type). It knew three words “Hello”, “Birdy” and “ Oh Crap”- okay, technically that is 4 words. Her story continued that the previous week they left the new puppy and birdy home alone together. When they came home there green feathers everywhere, including the dogs mouth. The drug rep called and called for the bird when finally she heard a weak “hello” from under the couch. (She actually changed her voice) She looked under the couch and fished out the bird. The puppy had held down the bird with one paw and plucked out all it’s little tail feathers.
At this point the visual in my head was WAY too much for me to handle and Carol knew it. Her eyes would shift over to me with each new development in the story. I could see the puppy with its paw on the bird and every time he pulled a feather out the bird yelling “OH CRAP”. Trying not to be completely rude, I spun my chair around to face the window. I tried and tried to contain my laughter but when the drug rep talked about the tail prosthesis they put on the bird because it could no longer keep its balance and it had fallen and broke its beak, I lost it. My laughter came busting out with the words “I’m so sorry.” I didn’t know this person and I am sure this was a very traumatic event but I couldn’t keep it in anymore. This set Carol into hysterical laughter. She apparently thought it was funny too but had much more control over her laughter than I did. The poor drug rep seemed somewhat offended and when I could compose my self to speak I apologized again. I explained that I was doing good until she put the bird voice to “hello”. This sent us into another round of laughter (Carol and I, the drug rep was less than amused)
From then on, every time one of us got in trouble for something the other one would poke our head in the door and in our best little birdy voice say “hello”. She stuck her head in my door quite a bit.
So lying in bed I started thinking about the first person who told me they loved me that wasn't related or I wasn't dating. You know that person that becomes a very close friend that is a 2AM friend that you can disagree without fighting, etc. I guess I was in my late 20s working at a hospital and I had worked with this one woman for many years. She lived right down the street and she and I use to take breaks together at work. Her life style and mine were completely different. She wanted NO children, I wanted 6 (I was young, full of energy, and had delusions of grandeur). She smoked and had recreational products, I didn't. She was a liberal and I was a conservative. Somehow, these polar opposites became best friends. She was the first friend to ever tell me "I love you." I didn't quite know how to take it but it was something that changed the way I look at friendship. We were friend for 15 years. Carol died last year in her sleep of unknown causes at 45. She and I went through a lot together at work and when I moved we kept in close contact. Carol was absolutely hysterical. She and I would set the office up for pranks and we found humor in some of the oddest situations.
The Dog Story
Carol and I both had a fondness for the burritos at Acapulco taco. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a diner, more like a storage shed in the middle of a parking lot. I am sure this place violated the majority of the health codes of Albuquerque but Carol and I would make many lunch trips there together risking e-coli and a gambit of other stomach bugs.
One warm, sunny day we got our meals and there and were leaving the parking lot. There was a Rottweiler dog chained to the front of the contemporary furniture store. After carefully making her left turn onto San Mateo, Carol began ranting about the injustice being done.
“Did you see that poor puppy tied up outside. He never has any water or shade. You can tell he is starting to get a sunburn because his little chest hairs are getting redder. I am going to call the ASPCA and report them. It makes me so mad when people treat animals like that…”
She paused and looked over at me at the next stop sign.
“Why aren’t you saying something?” I was at a loss for words, how could I put this to her so she would understand and believe me. Quietly I said
“because it’s PLASTIC”
You could see the little wheels turn in her head. In order to settle this quickly, she turned the truck around and headed back to the store. As we slowly drove by the “Poor puppy” again, I commentated
“Notice how it never pants, lies down, looks around…. MOVES???!!!??”
Now it got really quiet in the truck as we approached our work. She looked over at me and asked “Is there anyway we won’t mention this to Maggie?”(our boss)
I smiled, put my hand on the truck’s door handle and said…
“Race ya to her office!”
The BIRD Story
One day a good friend of Carol’s who happened to be a drug rep came up to the office. Carol introduced us and they began talking about their lives and family, etc. They were in my office and my desk faced the window (this is important later in the story). I was turned around in the chair away from the window listening to the dialogue go back and forth.
The drug rep was telling Carol this story about “Birdy” and the new mastiff puppy. Birdy was a talking bird (Carol could probably tell you what type). It knew three words “Hello”, “Birdy” and “ Oh Crap”- okay, technically that is 4 words. Her story continued that the previous week they left the new puppy and birdy home alone together. When they came home there green feathers everywhere, including the dogs mouth. The drug rep called and called for the bird when finally she heard a weak “hello” from under the couch. (She actually changed her voice) She looked under the couch and fished out the bird. The puppy had held down the bird with one paw and plucked out all it’s little tail feathers.
At this point the visual in my head was WAY too much for me to handle and Carol knew it. Her eyes would shift over to me with each new development in the story. I could see the puppy with its paw on the bird and every time he pulled a feather out the bird yelling “OH CRAP”. Trying not to be completely rude, I spun my chair around to face the window. I tried and tried to contain my laughter but when the drug rep talked about the tail prosthesis they put on the bird because it could no longer keep its balance and it had fallen and broke its beak, I lost it. My laughter came busting out with the words “I’m so sorry.” I didn’t know this person and I am sure this was a very traumatic event but I couldn’t keep it in anymore. This set Carol into hysterical laughter. She apparently thought it was funny too but had much more control over her laughter than I did. The poor drug rep seemed somewhat offended and when I could compose my self to speak I apologized again. I explained that I was doing good until she put the bird voice to “hello”. This sent us into another round of laughter (Carol and I, the drug rep was less than amused)
From then on, every time one of us got in trouble for something the other one would poke our head in the door and in our best little birdy voice say “hello”. She stuck her head in my door quite a bit.
Have you told your friend you loved them today???
2 comments:
O LOVE you, Tracy!!!!!!!
Love,
Anonymous
Love you Tracy!
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