little black journal

Shane and I took a quick trip to California last week to catch up with some old friends.  It’s good to be back home in Seattle (yes, I am officially referring to Seattle as “home”), but dang, after spending just a couple of days with my best friend, I’ve realized how much I miss her.  Amanda and I have been friends since high school, when we sat next to each other in Spanish class and were forced to sing Enrique Iglesias songs together (our teacher somehow thought that singing bad pop Spanish songs was vital to a complete understanding the language).  Our friendship apparently was sealed in that classroom, as we have remained close ever since.  We have almost nothing in common (Amanda loves Kelly Clarkson and goes to see the “American Idol on Tour” concert every year; I prefer Radiohead or maybe a little Death Cab for Cutie when I’m feeling poppy), but we never fail to have an absolutely fabulous time together.  Case in point: we spent over two hours in a shoe store on Thursday, strutting down the aisles, giggling, and giving each other the god-honest truth about the shoes we liked (thank you, Amanda, for saving me from those yellow loafers).  We stayed up late together every night, chatting, catching up, reminiscing about our high-school antics, just enjoying the comfort of being in an old friend’s presence.  We ate Mexican food together (oooooohhhhhh, I adore you, burrito supreme with cheese and green sauce and sour cream), and we loafed around her house afterward while our gut-bombs digested.  We stood in line at the post office together and somehow had a good time doing it.  We talked about work and marriage and family and shoes (yes, we do love our shoes).  It is such a blessing to have a friend that just “gets me” the way she does.  I’ve been discouraged that I haven’t found such a friend in Seattle yet, but I should remind myself that it took years for Amanda and I to come to know each other as well as we do.  Which means it might be years before I can enjoy standing in the post office line with someone up here.  Patience, I guess.