Dear DD

Maybe you think I've left your comfy couches and Anthropologie decorated bed (that sounds dirty, huh?) and forgotten all about that lovely little surprise you planned for me since I've been so busy with family visits, editing newsprint, and unpacking boxes o'junk. But I haven't! Thank you. Even though I'm easily brought to tears (hormones), I was so overwhelmed with what you put together for me. And even more grateful for your brilliant planning on blaming everything on Baby. I had no hopes of having a baby shower with all my Ohio friends because I felt selfish and focused on myself for trying to come see friends and then demand they bring presents for my out of wedlock child. So thanks for taking all those feelings away from me! But NO thanks for feeding me nasty, nasty Mac and Cheese baby food. Thank goodness for that chocolate cake. Your mom really came through with that one. Mmm, cake.

I'm really at a loss here. I know you're almost done with law school and I can't tell you how proud I am of you for getting through one of the hardest programs in education. You've gone from being an studious college student who rarely came out drinking with me to a well-balanced wine drinking partner in crime. I promise that the wine drinking days are not gone, and we will have a trip to the East Coast cities. I know you'll be a fantastic lawyer, as you've already shown me with your mad skills in finding out landlord/tenant laws when my landlords decided to be huge jerks. And to hear you talk about the incapable people in HP customer service, I have no doubt you can hold your own in a courtroom. One of those courtrooms with a real judge and maybe a jury! I really don't know what kind of law you'll be doing. I don't think a jury will be present. But you go, girl.

As crazy as our lives are going to be, with a baby on one side and crazy law hours on the other, I am confident that we can find plenty of time to engage in a few bottles of wine and maybe another hookah bar if we want to get crazy.

There, does that make you feel like Senior Wills/Poem Book time all over again? Good, I sure hope so.

Blackbird?

No, no. Not a bird!

Sarah B, the one of the infamous Duncan Donuts, has been my friend since...forever? I'm blanking on when we became close, but I know there was a point in time that we decided to be each others hilarious entertainment. Junior year, perhaps? DD, you tell me.

While at OWU, DD was very busy with things like school and homework, RA-ing, and a few boys here and there. One of my first memories involve standing outside the Newport with Sarah, Sally and Sarah's BF. It was freezing cold, but none of us were wearing coats because you don't want to have a coat at a concert, sillies! We took turns walking into an Urban Outfitters just down the street. We were going to a Howie Day concert, but really we were there because Matt Nathanson was opening and he is our hero. Who else tells you that Clusterf*ck isn't allowed on radio airwaves? That's what I thought.

She lived in the Palace too. She made beer bread once. And pumpkin bread. She has cute, flippy hair and she drinks wine on a regular basis. I consider that a friendship-deal maker. She has a dog she can dress up, and I like him! Her bed is always perfectly made. I think she even has pillow shams. We have matching, swirly, and beaded shoes.

I spent part of my Senior year Spring Break in Cleveland with Sarah. She took me to a candy factory, I still have a white chocolate bunny. We went downtown to a fabulous fresh produce market in an old train station building. We also went to the Little Italy part of Cleveland and had lunch at a little place that I recall was odd, but I can't remember why. It was cold and snowy that time I visited, and I had just come back from four days in West Palm Beach, Florida but I recall all of my visit in snowy Cleveland with great joy.

Our next adventure came later, after graduation, when we decided to road trip it to DC. I was driving when we finally arrived in DC, and it's not easy to drive a stick while trying to get through three lanes of rush hour DC traffic and DD is yelling "YOU HAVE TO GET OVER. NOW." Just let me tell you. After that, we ditched the car and spent a few days walking/Metro-ing our way through DC to see everything. "Because it's LAME" can still elicit giggles from me in random quiet moments. Martini bars, squid, hookas, and getting her hooked on Vera Bradley are the highlights of our trip.

She is my friend I know I can spill anything to, right away, without worrying if she's going to be upset. We don't email or chat on the phone like others might, but there have been countless hours of AIM conversations in the past two years. I almost had her convinced to move to Colorado. She did have me convinced to come to Columbus. We're going to Chicago next.

Wanna come? Bring wine.