Me and My Emiline

Two blogs in one week? This must be some kind of recent record.

Back in March, we were blessed with a visit from one of my oldest friends, Emily. I can't tell you all the things Emily and I have done together. When we were young, she went on more than a few family trips with the Thomases. She even visited Morton, TX. I think that solidified her place as my best friend EVER. On that trip, my dad asked Emily if she was excited and in her sarcastic, deadpan way, she told him that, yes, she was excited. It's been a continuing theme with my dad whenever Emily's name is brought up. He always asks if she's excited.

On that same trip, Em and I were delivered to basketball camp at West Texas State University in Canyon, TX. Why did we go all the way out there for basketball camp? For the life of me, I can't remember, but I do know that a bunch of other girls from the 'ville went. Here is a picture of us stylin' and profilin' at the Rec Hall. That's me second from the left in the awesome glasses, and Em on the far right. Oh, and beside her is my other old "BFF" Jen.

Emily also went with us to visit Amy at A&M and more than likely, I think she went to at least one state basketball tournament. Wow, this makes my family of origin sound like a real traveling group. We weren't at all. Those were the only places we went: west Texas/eastern New Mexico, Austin for the basketball tournaments, and Aggieland.

Anyhoo, Emily and I grew up together. She's seen me at my best, seen me at my worst, and everywhere in between. She's watched life throw some crappy things my way, seen me make some really bad choices, and she's been right there beside me, a real rock in some pretty trying times. You see, Emily's really different than me: not prone to crazy emotion or overindulgence, even-keeled, steady. I asked her during her visit how/why she stuck by me, particularly after high school and before I got married. Her answer was quite sweet: she knew I would always be there for her, that I would never turn on her. She's right, I never will. And I know the same is true of her: she'll always be there for me.

Besides, she's been to Morton, for heaven's sake! That makes her more than a friend, that makes her family!

Here we are the night I sang with a "real" band at a watering hole in the 'ville. Wow, we look young.So, it's always nice to get to spend some time with her. In some ways, our lives couldn't be more different. Yet any time we are together, it's comfortable. We're still the same people underneath. I love you, Em.

Okay, now to her visit. It begins the night before her arrival. Jasen was gone that weekend, so I had to prepare the house on my own. Everything was going great until I decided to turn on the self-cleaning oven. I was enjoying season 3 of "The Tudors" while I folded some towels. All of a sudden, the house was really smoky. I turned on all the fans, the fan associated with the air conditioner, and opened all the windows to no avail. At 11 p.m. on a Saturday night, the Saturday night of "spring forward" our smoke alarms went off. At that point, with all of the means to get the smoke out already employed, I had no idea what to do. I was worried about the kids, of course. When I went to check on Davis, he was still fast asleep. Grace answered me when I asked her if she was awake. I explained that I was trying to get the alarms to quit ringing.

On a different but related note, have you ever had your smoke alarm go off? It's the sound of hell, I am pretty sure.

A full 10 minutes later, I had no idea what to do. Did I mention that it was raining? And that our dog took off into the woods behind our house? Finally, a thought occurred to me: what if I blew fresh air on one of the detectors? I got my blow-dryer and a chair and proceeded to blow-dry the detector in the downstairs hallway. Voila, after a minute or so, the alarms quit ringing. Thank heaven! And write that trick down; believe me, after 10 minutes of ringing, it was a lifesaver!

After the alarms quit ringing, I had to help Grace back into bed and try to coax the dog to come back. Meanwhile, thunder and lightning are all around, while I stand out back with a metal umbrella, begging the dog (who I am still not very fond of) to come home. When the mutt arrived, I left everything open and the fans still running because our house REEKED.

You can imagine my disappointment the next day to find that, although the house was chilly and wet in some places (it was raining, remember?) it was still stinky. So much for having a perfect house when Emily arrived!

She arrived later that afternoon and we were so glad to see her! We immediately went downtown and took her to a late lunch. Em had told me that she wanted to eat her way through Charleston and I was happy to oblige her! After we ate, I took Em to The Citadel where we got to see the cadets lower the flag. Pretty cool.

The next day, we were off. I gave her the 10 cent downtown Charleston tour. After we picked Davis up, we went to the Stono Market for lunch, then went to see Angel Oak. The rest of the afternoon was spent puttering downtown. It's a great place to putter!

That night was our big meal. You see, before Emily came, she saw Alton Brown on the Food Network say that his favorite chocolate dessert was the chocolate pudding at Hominy Grill in Charleston. Hominy Grill was Emily's one request. That evening, Jasen, Em, and I headed there for dinner. Jasen had the best friend chicken I think I have ever tasted. And Emily got her chocolate pudding. But I wouldn't call it pudding. More like a heavy chocolate mousse. It was DIVINE! Amazing, simply amazing.

Here we are before dinner.
The amazing chocolate pudding....
Grace and Auntie Em saying good-bye.

The next day, I can't remember what all we did. We went to lunch and to Piggly Wiggly for a souvenir. The 'ville-ites love our Piggly Wiggly! Then it was time to deliver Em back to the airport. It was a quick visit, but it was wonderful.

I love my Emiline.