Vicarious Life

I know that I�ve mentioned my best friend Kathleen before. She�s the flight attendant who lives in NYC.

It�s funny how our paths have �diverged� over the years � and yet . . . we can still hang out like old friends and it�s all cool.

I guess I should start out by how we met.

We met at church when I was 15 and she was 16. First impressions of each other were � �Yikes! Get some makeup� (me of her) and �That girl is stuck up with no reason to be� (her of me.) OUCH!

I wouldn�t call her homely, per se . . . okay so maybe I would. (Sorry K, but you�d say the same.)

Cut to five years later � she�s lost weight, she�s let me pluck her eyebrows, she�s discovered blonde hair dye and makeup and . . . well . . .the rest is history. I�d post before and after shots but she would KILL ME! She�s very protective of those �pre babe-metamorphosis photos� for some reason. Personally I�d be splashing them all over the place � kind of the same way I hope to splash the �look how fat I used to be� photos some sweet day.

But � ENOUGH about that.

The writing of this blog entry was prompted by a phone call from her a few days ago which went like this:

�Hey dude � I met a guy in Sweden. He�s totally hot. I�m going back in two weeks to hang out with him.

This is a typical phone call from her. Actually, the first thing you always ask upon getting a call or phoning is �Where are you?� The answer could be anything from �just near the Wailing Wall� to �a crappy hotel in Birmingham waiting for my next flight.�

And so you could say I live a little vicariously through her. Let�s break it down into a cute listing, shall we:

• While Kathleen�s first post-college job was au pairing in Switzerland and having trysts with the hot Italian guy in the apartment above the family�s, Ginger�s first post college job had her temping in crappy office and having trysts with hot Italian take-out in the restaurant nearby.
• While Kathleen walks the streets of Paris (where she lived for 2 years in the home of her well-to-do French boyfriend,whom she met on a train, might I add) nibbling on fabulous pastries at cafes, Ginger walks the local mall, scarfing down a corn dog.
• While Kathleen explores the city of London with her new Scottish beau named, of all things, Scott, Ginger explores the London Fog coats on sale at Burlington Coat Factory and later buys a value-size package of Scott toilet paper.
• While Kathleen and a blonde pilot dance in an Egyptian nightclub all night long as locals surround them and worship them like golden gods, Ginger attempts to dance at a local crappy club and ends up looking like the god Buddha having a seizure.
• While Kathleen explores a vineyard in southern Italy and has a passionate exchange with a gorgeous Italian stranger amongst the rows or grapes, Ginger explores the wine section of Walmart and has a passionate exchange with a grape slurpee.
• While Kathleen splashes in the turquoise waters off the coast of Greece with some fantastic Greek vision of a man, Ginger splashes tears while watching Grease as Olivia Newton-John sings �Hopelessly Devoted.�

Even when Kathleen came back to the states � her life was still glamorous. For one thing, she chose NYC as her home. And then she went to work for the Consulate of Monaco where she hung out with Prince Albert (and not the kind that comes in the can.)

Then she went into the whole flight attendant thing � so she could continue seeing the world pretty much for free.

And just this week she�s telling me about her Swedish meatball.

Oh Kat! How I know you want to settle down... But let me live vicariously through you for just a bit more. At least until Jude is here!

I cropped her out of the Consulate of Monaco staff photo.

|

Our First Baby is Due on November 23!!!