Sunday, April 29, 2007

Say "Beignets!"

They say that good friends are hard to come by and that is so true. Yet I have had the amazing good fortune to be blessed by a kindred spirit. I have said it many times over, but my best friend Shelley just keeps reminding me why she is such a wonderful person. I found my soulmate in my husband, but I also connect on whole other level with my best gal pal. When I graduated from U of O back in the day, she was there to help mark this rite of passage with me. When it was her turn to graduate, I screwed up the day and missed it. I felt so horrible and hoped that someday I would be able to make it up to her, so I promised that I would be there if she ever went back to school. What does Shelley do? She upped and moved to Houston to attend law school. I secretly wondered if she was testing my promise...j/k.

So about two years ago, I flew to Houston to help her celebrate this major milestone in her life. She worked for three long years to earn her Doctor of Jurisprudence to become a lawyer, an awesome accomplishment in and of itself. True to form, we did all sorts of fun and silly things like we did back in our early college days. One of the fun things that we did during my stay was to go out to eat at a New Orleans-style diner to feast on red beans and rice, followed by beignets for dessert. Such a simple thing to some, but needless to say, we were in heaven. It was a grand time overall and I even returned two months later to help her celebrate her wedding vows. I felt blessed to be a part of all of these wonderful events in her life...and I had kept my promise.


Ironically, I had just entered grad school myself, so it was going to be a long time before we saw each other again...almost two years to be exact. Shelley promised to be there for me when it was my turn to graduate. Well, this past week I completed twenty months of hard work to earn my Master of Arts in Teaching. True to form, Shelley was right there to help me celebrate. She was truly supportive and made me feel like I was on vacation too. Like two giggly schoolgirls, we hung out and got to just cut loose. We got loopy and enjoyed the most inane things...such as cruising craft stores for scrapbooking stuff at 9pm on a Friday night. Hey, you gotta get creative when you're on a budget...)

A great bookend to her visit here came when we found a great little cafe that mirrored the diner down in Houston that we'd come to love. We ordered red beans and rice and chased it with some very sugary beignets. The gal who served us was so sweet and even gave us extra sprinkles. She also took our pic, but instead of "say cheese," she required us ot say "beignets!" It was too ironic, but so fitting. It was a rollercoaster visit and we were on the go for the entire time. This morning, we woke up at the "butt crack of dawn"...3:30 a.m. to get her off to the airport for an early morning flight. I was very sad to see her go as I don't know when I will see her again. Thank goodness for email and such. Though I've made some really wonderful friends here that are like family, Shelley just holds a very special place in my life as we've seen each other through so much. So here's to you Shellers...you deserve much more than a simple "woohoo!" From one York Sister to another, bless your heart for all you are and do. I hope it's not another two years that go by...;P

1 comment:

Lawfrog said...

Now you made me cry so we're even:) Thank you so much for one of the best weekends ever! I miss you so much and it's definitely not going to be two years before we see one another again. That's just too long. You're a blessing in my life. Thanks...for everything.