Friendage

It was a busier weekend than I was expecting it to be.

Since I'd spent some time Friday asking her about the Wii Fit she's borrowing from another friend, KT invited us to come down on Saturday and give it a try. Matt wasn't really interested, but I was, so I left Matt with Alex and took Penny down with me.

It worked out really well. KT did a demo for me so I could see what it looked like, then they registered me on the machine and I got to try out a few exercises and games. Some of the games were extremely dorky, but they were still kind of fun. I did better than I'd expected to, which lends credence to the idea that it's more of a supplemental gadget, rather than something to set up as the core of my workout. Though I skipped the strength-building exercises completely, which looked a bit more challenging.

KT and I chatted while half-watching Kevin go through his routine, which gave me a more in-depth and advanced look at what's available (since KT hadn't really done a whole routine, just popped around a little by way of demo). And it was nice to sit and chat, too.

Penny declined to try the Wii, but she and Jess had a grand time together. They watched us on the Wii for a while -- Jess in particular was a great cheerleader. "Yay, you got a star!" After they got bored with that, they pretended they were dragons having a tea party (complete with growly voices and blowing fire all over us). Eventually, they disappeared into Jess's room, where they managed to play quietly enough (for a change) that we didn't fear for the building's stability, but not so quietly that we feared mischief. It was quite lovely, actually.

All in all, I'm pretty well sold on the Wii Fit -- now I just need to get one.

"I thought about getting it for you for Valentine's Day," Matt confessed later, "since you seemed so interested in it. But then I thought that's the kind of gift that could really send the wrong message."

I laughed. "Especially for Valentine's Day," I agreed. "'Happy Valentine's Day, honey! I love you! Now can you do something about your fat ass?'"

---

Sunday started out as the usual chore day, but while I was at the grocery store with Matt, he sent a beep that Jennie had called and would be dropping by.

Once I got home and got the groceries unloaded, I called her back: Jennie and her husband, pondering what to do with their day, had rather spontaneously decided to come down for a visit. Yay!

Jennie and I have one of those friendships that seems like it was destined and designed. We first met in the 7th grade: it was Jennie who decided that "Elizabeth" was entirely too cumbersome and didn't really suit me and that I should be "Liz". We were best friends for two and a half years, when her mother packed up and moved the family to South Carolina.

We stayed in touch, sporadically, through high school, then lost touch for college. Jennie found me again, out of the blue, shortly after I'd finished grad school, to ask me to be her bridesmaid. A couple of years later, she came to my wedding to deliver a toast...


...and stuck around long enough to help us move into our house.


We fell out of touch again for a while, though she turned up again just in time to celebrate Penny's birth.


Once again, we've been out of touch for a few years. Once in a while, Matt and I would try to contact them, but Jennie's email address had died. We spontaneously received a Christmas card from them this year, though, so I guess we're back in an "on" phase of our on-and-off relationship.

But every time we get back together, there's no catching up to do. Or at least, we fill in on what's happened, but we always seem to immediately understand who we are. Even when we've changed enormously over the intervening span. (Well, there are some gaps... Jennie is at least three inches taller than me, but she is forever frozen in my mind as the shorter of us, as she was when she moved away in 9th grade. It always surprises me slightly when I see her in person that she's the taller of us.)

She and Brian turned up yesterday and once again, we fell into chattering as if we'd seen each other only last week. She gushed over Alex and Penny (and Penny was immediately entranced) and we watched the video of the girl they're hoping to adopt, and we went out for lunch and had a wonderful time. I was hoping they'd stay for dinner as well, but they realized after lunch that they had to get home to let the dog out.

So, all in all, it was a simply marvelous weekend.