Sara Plays House

When Gimli wants to come inside, he doesn’t lightly scratch the door.  He doesn’t give out a little bark to let us know he’s hot and needs some air conditioning.  No.  He tries to eat the door.  We used to have screen on the bottom of our back door.  I’m sure that there is probably still some screen in Gimli’s gut.  It’s a wonder that dog hasn’t had to have emergency surgery the way he eats.  In any case, the following unfolded last week.  It’s never dull around here.

Dude.  It’s hot out here.  Get off the Facebook and let me in IMMEDIATELY.

Bartleby!  Let me in!  You’re a cat.  You can open doors, right?

This is me, walking away from you, Dog.  I still haven’t figured out why they keep you around.  Things were just fine WITHOUT YOU.  Excuse me, I’m going to go lay down in that nice cool spot over there.  Enjoy the heat.

That’s it.  When I get inside that house, I am TOTALLY going to chase you around.  And maybe even eat your poop.  SO THERE.

See?  You EAT POOP.  I totally win at ALL things.  I’ve even got my own house.  You?  You sleep on the FLOOR.  You are beneath me, sir.

Sigh.

Last weekend, one of my very best friends in the whole entire world turned 30.  To celebrate this auspicious occasion, I went with her to a cabin in the North Georgia mountains for a weekend of wine tastings, board games, and food.  Lots and lots of food.

There were seven of us total–aside from Colleen and I we also had her mom, her two sisters, and two of Colleen’s closest friends (One of whom is also one of my closest friends, David. Score!).*  I’ve known Colleen and David for (gasp!) sixteen years.  That’s over half my life, y’all.  The other friend is the lovely Christina.  I’m sure y’all remember her and her beautiful jewelry.

Colleen’s sisters found us a swanky cabin outside of Dahlonega so that we could take advantage of the area’s many wineries.  David and I drove up with Colleen’s mom Saturday morning.  Our cabin was in the middle of the woods and there were several times where I felt certain that Mike’s little civic was not going to make it.  But it did,  and we wasted no time grabbing a quick lunch and heading out to our first winery.

This right here?  This was a recurring theme throughout the whole day.  I’d never been to a winery before, so this was a completely new experience.  While other people were swirling and sniffing their wine before taking tiny sips and using at mouthwash, we were drinking as quickly as we could.  Not because we’re total lushes, but because we had to make sure to get to the next winery before it closed.  Priorities, people.

At Three Sisters Winery (Get it?  THREE SISTERS.  Colleen has two sisters.  Hence our rush at the last place.)

I hung out with Elvis.  As evidenced by my goofy expression, I was enjoying the wine.  Very much so.  I might have had a conversation with cardboard Elvis.  Maybe.

Why is Colleen hiding behind her wine glass?  This is one of life’s greatest mysteries.  But I can tell you that there were no less than FIVE photos on my camera of her hiding behind various glasses.  I love this girl.  Furthermore, why am I leaning like that?  I am really lucky I didn’t fall over right then and there.

The grounds at Three Sisters were lovely.  So lovely, in fact, that David had an overwhelming urge to frolic in the grass.  And I had an overwhelming urge to document that frolicking.  So I did.  (I hope he doesn’t hate me now.)

After we had our fill of wine, it was time to head back to the cabin and make sure that Colleen looked the part of a thirty year old.  Doesn’t she look dignified?  She totally does!  If I had been thinking clearly, we would have made her wear these out in public.  Oh well! There’s always her fortieth birthday.

Colleen’s sisters made a delicious dinner for us all.  Steaks, chicken, grilled vegetables.  If we had any neighbors at the cabin, we could have invited them over and still had leftovers. But our only neighbors were bears and (possibly) serial killers.  And no one wants those type people at the dinner table.

We played some pool in the scary basement.  There was a talking deer head down there.  I’m not even joking.  It had a remote control and sang Garth Brooks.  This is why no one wanted to sleep in the basement.  What if you’re asleep and the creepy deer starts singing about friends in low places?  No thank you.  There were also no curtains down there and that’s just WEIRD.  And also scary.

David will probably really hate me now.  I’m willing to take that risk.

I made Colleen these for her birthday.  Only substituting the semi-sweet chocolate for milk chocolate, because that’s what she requested.  I wanted to make her a cute Guns n Roses cake, but she told me CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE AND MORE OOEY, GOOEY CHOCOLATE. So that’s what I did.

Colleen loves board games.  So we spent the rest of the night playing Apples to Apples and Taboo.  My stomach hurt the next day from laughing so hard.  I’m happy to report that no bears or serial killers tried to get us in the middle of the night.  But there were a lot of random scary noises and a particularly suspicious WHITE DRESS thing hanging in the closet.  In the room that David and I shared.  Luckily, the wine and beer made us fall asleep VERY quickly.

And that was my weekend spent celebrating all the awesomeness that is Colleen.  It was a great weekend, seeing my friends and hanging out with Colleen’s family.  The awesomeness is quite obviously a genetic thing with these ladies.

It left me thinking the following–

Friendship is a blessing in every sense of the word.  Friends that have been your friends for over half your life?  Well. That is the absolute best kind of blessing.  The friends that have known you since you were a dorky freshman in high school, and have been with you through every little thing that’s turned you into the person you are today.  The friends that stand beside you as you say your vows.  The friends that are there when your first child is born.  The friends who cry with you when something very terrible happens.  Those friends are more than friends; they’re family.

Your family has to love you no matter what–but to have people in your life that choose to stay?  That is quite possibly the most special thing of all.  And I am so blessed to have those kinds of friends in my life–old ones and new ones.  There’s a lot of space in my friendship vault, but at the same time, it always feels very full.  Just the way I like it.

P.S.  Colleen shares her birthday with another of our friends, Mandy.  I’ve known Mandy for EVEN longer.  Geez this post is making me feel positively ancient.  Anyway, she celebrated her thirtieth over in California.  I’m told that her sweet husband did a fantastic job making sure her weekend was extra special.  One of these days, I’ll get to celebrate their birthdays with BOTH of them.  And that will make me a happy girl indeed.  Happy Birthday, Colleen and Mandy!  I love you both!

*That is one of the ugliest sentences ever.  Sorry.

**The rest of the pictures are here.

Oh hey, it’s me again.  Remember me?  No?  Well, that’s OK.  I remember you.

Avery started school a few weeks ago.  Yes, she’s technically been “in school” for two years now, but this year is special.  This year she’s in PRE-K.  That means that she’s there from 8am until 2:30pm.  She’s totally a big girl now.  It’s been wonderful to watch her slide back into friendships and routines.  Not a day goes by that she doesn’t bounce right out of bed, ready to get to her classroom.  For the record, her favorite discovery of this school year? “Mom, the dead frog is still in the jar!”  (Nasty dead frog in formaldehyde that Avery insists on carrying around.  Why yes, she WILL be the one merrily dissecting fetal pigs in anatomy class.  I just know it.)

One special friendship is standing out this year.  A little girl started out in Avery’s classroom last Fall.  She and her family had just moved here from Taiwan.  She arrived at Avery’s school speaking no English at all.  Avery told me last year that Jada spent most of her days crying.  Probably out of frustration and confusion, no doubt.  But I encouraged my girl to be nice to her, told her that Jada just needed a little extra help until she could learn the language.

Avery ran with that–she is nothing if not empathetic.  She would tell us here and there that Jada had a good day, or that they had played tag outside.  Avery was friendly toward her, but she was also easily distracted by her other friends.

This year though?  Avery and Jada are full-on BFFs.  Every day, it’s “Jada this” and “Jada that”.  Avery needed to buy a blue headband because duh!  That’s that Jada wears.  Avery took a cue from Kai-Lan and started telling Jada “Ni Hao” in the morning.  When I asked her what Jada said to that, she said that Jada smiled.  And then they ran off and did the kinds of things little girls do together.  (Hint:  Play House and also Flying Dogs.  Didn’t you ALWAYS play Flying Dogs as a child?  Of course you did.)

All this brings me to last week.  I came in to get Avery from school and saw Jada and her mom.  Jada takes one look at me and says, “Avery’s Mom!”  And then she looked at her mom and said, “Avery’s my FRIEND!”

Jada still doesn’t know many words in English, but she knows two quite well.  The fact that she says “Avery” and “friend” perfectly makes me one proud mama.  Ultimately, Avery doesn’t care how many words she and Jada share–she just knows they share their friendship.  And when you’re four, oftentimes that’s all you need to know.