Old Friends

Yesterday, I talked a lot about my girlfriends, but I have a few guy friends that have been influential in my life, as well. Honestly, guy friends are more important to me, right now, than they ever have been before, because I want Charley to be surrounded by positive male figures that are close to my age. I’ve got a few in Minneapolis, and they are great people. I went to dinner with one of them, and his parents tonight, to celebrate his 30^th birthday. It was really nice to reconnect with an old friend, who’s known me since I was a baby. I need to integrate him into my life more, because I DO want Charley to be exposed to more men, and not necessarily guys I’m dating. My MN guy friends are great, but I’ve got a few male friends in other states that I really wish lived in the same city as Charley and me.

First of all, there’s Spenser. Spenser is not my friend, he’s my brother. We were roommates in college, and we became like siblings. I’ll never forget waking up to my exercise ball being thrown at me, or getting rolled up the stairs (yes, that’s right rolled UP the stairs). We drove to work together and gave names to all of the elderly people that cut us off in the car (Bertha and Ethel…it was a fun game). He’s the first guy I call for a good laugh, or if I need to talk about anything serious, because his advice is thoughtful, and generally on-target. Spenser knows more about me than most people, partially because we lived together, and partially because he has made an effort to stay in my life and support me, even when I moved away from KC. Spenser is Mr. Rational, and he’s always reminding me to take things slow, one step at a time, etc. He reminds me that I am a good woman, and any man I’m with needs to recognize what kind of woman I am. He is protective of me, like a brother would be, and I swear, he’s the best guy friend a girl could ask for. I can’t wait for him to settle down for good with Nadia (his longtime girlfriend) one of these days. No pressure, Spenser ;)  

I remember in Vegas, when things went south in my relationship, one of the first people to respond was Pat. He sent me a message that said, “Hey, I am not sure what’s going on, but if you need anything, we’ll be there.” Sure enough, he showed up that night, along with his wife Shelly, daughter, Paige, and friend Melissa, pizza in hand, simply to chat and keep me company. It was such a simple gesture, but the fact that they did that for me meant a lot.

I have a lot of male friends, and each of them serves a unique purpose in my life, and I’m happy have them in it. Right now, I’m so happy to have AJ (not ‘BSB’ AJ that I dated, but my friend’s boyfriend) and Thome around, even though I don’t see them much. They are the type of men I’m really glad to have around Charley, and she adores them.

Ok, on a totally unrelated note, has anybody else had issues with Century Link? I got cut offline today around 4, went out, and when I came home, it was still off. I called, and they walked me through a process that was pointless (in broken English, of course). Basically, they wanted me to see if my cord was plugged in. Ummm…yes. I’m not an idiot. One minute it was working, the next it wasn’t. The problem is on their end not mine…Yet I’m going to have to pay someone $85 on Friday to come check out the issue. Yup…I have to wait until Friday. I’m thrilled about that, considering that I work from home! Off to Mom’s house I go, I guess. How annoying.

I’m skipping the teacher story today to share this little gem. So, a couple of days ago, I took Oscar (my 12 year old Wheaten Terrier mix) to get groomed. He HATES getting groomed, almost as much as I hate getting on the scale, but that’s beside the point. He is horrible when he goes to the groomer, so I always warn them. This time, he was pretty matted, because he licks his fur constantly, so I asked them to shave him down. When he was ready to go, I got a call from the groomer, telling me I could come get him. “He really gave us trouble when we tried to get his face, “ the groomer warned me. I thought I was prepared… But I showed up and found my beautiful, fuzzy dog transformed into this skinny little dog with a scraggly goatee. Charley had been so excited to pick up Oscar, she was telling everyone, “Oscar got a haircut.” When they brought him out, however, she looked at me and said, “Mommy, Oscar’s a goat!” She was right, he did look like a goat. Since then, she has been asking for “The Goat,” every time we come back from running errands. She’s a piece of work!