So About This Kelly Person

First, I should say that I'm posting this for two reasons.

1. I was supposed to go finish cleaning Kelly's house today. Instead, I slept until 2. And then ordered chinese. I'm hoping that, if I don't get there tomorrow to finish before she gets home, she'll forgive me when she reads this.

2. I miss the dork.

So. About this Kelly person. She'll have an aneurysm if she sees I've posted this picture of her. Or any picture, for that matter. Kelly doesn't like any picture of herself that was taken after the millennium. And I just don't get it, because, well, look at her. She's gorgeous, isn't she? I love her smile. It's catchy. And I also hate it. Because, well, it's catchy. And it makes it much harder to stay mad at her.

Kelly is 13 years older than I am, between December and September. This is the source of mass confusion among most of my other friends. When I tell them that my best friend has two children, they assume that my best friend must be closer to my own age. And then they think she's nuts, or worse. So I always feel compelled to tack on - don't worry, she's 13 years older than me. And then I feel guilty, because I don't think I'd like being described consistently by my age. Then my other friends, all three of them, look at me and wonder, but why on earth would your best friend be so much older than you? What do you have in common? Then, I tell them we've known each other for 7 years, they do the math, and their brains hurt. But I kind of like making people's brains hurt.

I was 13 the first time I had a conversation with Kelly. We met on a forum for a little video game obsession we shared known as The Sims. We started talking in instant messenger, because we both liked writing. Our first conversation included a several hours long game of word association. 

I have no idea why she kept talking to me.

Kelly is the reason that I live in Austin and go to UT. It's all her fault. She went and got pregnant. I was 16. Because my parents and I were sharing a 200 square foot travel trailer at the time, we came to Austin so I could go to the baby shower. And we just never left. My plans were always to go back to North Carolina for college, but by the time that came around, I couldn't really imagine leaving. 

So what is it, about this dork, that I love so much?

Maybe it has something to do with studying hearing science, and how she explain to me that I should think of the negatively charged hair follicles in my cochlea as pissed off magicians, because they have mini-trap doors on the top of them. Pissed off magicians. In my ears. I laughed until I needed to pee, but I darn well remembered it. She's good like that. She knows how to make me remember things. She pretty much knows everything about me.

She taught me how to wear tampons. Sorry. But it had to be said. 

She trusts me with her children. And those kids, by the way? She produces really great babies. If she weren't a woman, and if she weren't married to an equally great guy, and if science was progressed that far, I'd have her babies. They're that cute. 

Or maybe it's just because she's completely accepted me into her family unit. The five of us - Her, Dave, Me, and the kids... we're a functional family. Being at their house is easy, because it feel like my home.

And at this point, I just have to say that Dave is really something special too. Sometimes I wonder if this was how he pictured his life. A wife, two beautiful children, and a weird college student who completely and utterly unrelated to any of them, but who took up residence four years ago and comes over for dinner a couple of time a week minimum. Not a lot of men would put up with that. 

But back to Kelly. I miss her. Can you tell? And I'm ready for her to come home. Because, in the whole wide world, there is no one I trust more. She's the one I want to run to when something happens so I can tell her. She's the one I know will slap me upside the head if I do something stupid. She's the one who has been with me through so many emotional crises I can't imagine what I'd have done without her. She makes me laugh on a daily basis. And sometimes she pisses me off too - but she's someone I know will always take me back, even when I'm an idiot. 

For all intents and purposes, she's my sister, and I love her very much. And she's never allowed to go to Iowa again. Mainly because I never want to have to scrub her tile again. Do you KNOW what this woman makes me do while she's gone? *grin* I am a good friend. 

*Bobs