Today’s post comes to you via Kizz; she who has been my friend, both online and in real life, perhaps the longest of anyone
Title: 10 Things Chili
I’ve known Chili for about 25 years now. We did, however, take a 10 year hiatus after high school. I missed a lot of things, like her wedding to Mr. Chili for example, so a lot of important things. For my guest posting opportunity I thought I’d stick with the 10 Things Tuesday theme and give you 10 pictures I have of Chili. Some of them are simple but they’re why she’s important to me.
1. Picture of me & Chili in her living room:
2. Standing at our table taking our order (no idea who “we” were, I ate there all the time with pretty much everyone I knew, it was the age of the breadstick and I love the breadstick) at the age of probably16 in her Pizza Hut uniform. I can see her trucking across the floor with orders and it’s the exact same gait and intention she uses to propel herself today.
3. Standing in the Indian Head Bank (back when there was such a thing) 3 or 4 of us waiting to use the ATM (back when that was a novelty) and she urged us all to go first because she was going to deposit her tips, mostly coins, and break the machine. She went on to work in a bank. I wonder if the criminal coin depositing ever came back to bite her.
4. Walking slowly up the hill to our 10th High School reunion with 3 month old Punkin’ in the front pack.
5. A few minutes later, sitting on a picnic bench with some classmates, she was telling us abut her life and I thought, “Wow, she’s accomplished all the things she said she wanted to when we were in high school.” The same could not be said for me.
6. Driving. She drives stick, always has and the style has some similarity to her walking gait. She drives with a directness and efficiency that I love. It’s the only way to drive stick and she’s mastered it. It’s always been a dream of mine to do a car racing course. I’d love to have her as my opponent.
7. She visited New York as her first overnight trip away from her girls back when the Bean was just a toddler. Walking through Times Square she kept stepping on the back of my shoe in her efforts to stick close and not lose me. I still remember the feel of her hand in mine when I reached back to hang on to her (and save my footwear).
8. The devilish look on her face when I picked her up at the airport (to see a performance of mine) and realized that she’d used her trip as a cover to bring 6 or 7 of our girlfriends along as an opening night surprise. Still one of the coolest opening night gifts I’ve ever gotten.
9. The barely restrained glee when she’s standing in front of a class teaching English.
10. Originally this picture had part of her face in it and she hated the way her chin looked. I don’t know if she knows that I cropped the hated part out.
Really? Might I have known you longer than anyone save Auntie? I had no idea.
Neat – thanks for the glimpse into your shared history!
I was fortunate to have a wonderful English teacher, the same one both junior and senior years in high school. Her name was Mary Ward, and I regret that after leaving school, and realizing how well she’d prepared me for college and life, I never went back to thank her. Partly this was because I thought her son was a dick, I suppose, but that’s no excuse. It’s too late now.
I’m guessing that mrschili’s students are similarly blessed. As are the rest of us who know her (to whatever degree we do).
Yes, Kizz – save Auntie, you’ve known me the longest.
I feel the need to point out that I never put COINS in the ATM. I got in trouble for putting too many ones in, though, to the point where I jammed the deposit slot so consistently that the bank called me and told me to knock it off.
The assholes who ran the registers at Pizza Slut wouldn’t exchange ones, so I had no way of turning them in for larger bills, so I’d end up with upwards of 50 ones by the end of a really good Friday night. The ATM can only handle about 15 ones, and I regularly tried to jam in far more than that. The bank got mad after the third or fourth time and told me to start using the night deposit slot.
I eventually went on to work for THAT bank, though at a different branch, but they never connected my name to the errant ATM jammer…
I wonder if they’d have been just as mad if you’d made like 8 $15 deposits every night.
It’s a much funnier story if it’s coins, you know. Although it’s kind of scary that my brain remembers the funnier way not the true way.
lovely photo of you both…
Look at you two rockin’ babes.
What a marvelous TTT!
Old friendships..they are the best. My neice was married this past weekend and to my delight a friend from jr. high school was there as well as another person that I was in second grade with! Small world, we had a great time catching up. We are all looking at our 35th high school reunion. Go figure. When did we get this old?
You know, it just occurred to me that we all went to the same driving school! Did you kids get to drive the Porsche? He let me red line that thing through 3 gears on rt 125. I think I was doing 80 in 3rd. He was like a little kid; “Wait. Wait. Wait. Shift!”
Porsche? Um, no. No porsches for us. Little VWs I think, perhaps a Jetta. He often left us alone for a long, long time. Your sister was kind of bossy. When he realized it was his anniversary and he’d forgotten it she drove him to the Hallmark store and made him buy presents.
I don’t think we got VWs, Kizz; I think we learned to drive in an automatic Nissan. It may have been a Toyota, but I know for SURE it wasn’t a Porche (though I DO remember Auntie learning to drive in the Porche, and I recall feeling jealous that we got the dogs and she got the cool car). I DO remember bringing Whatshisname to the Hallmark store, though, and ordering him to get something – a card, at LEAST – for his anniversary. I haven’t thought of that in YEARS…
What nice things to say about your friend!