I Need a Job

You know. The kind where you go to work so you can get some rest. That’s what one of my friends said at a meeting that was one of several commitments I had again last week.

But let’s not speak of commitments. Especially since Lainy thinks I’ve had nothing to do since she left, therefore, I should have written a blog two days afterwards. Then tries to blame her impatience on Kate. Ha!

You see, Lainy and I got to meet and spend a day with Kate, and rather than start her own blog and write about it, Lainy expects me to do it. Because, you know, all I do is sit around and eat bon-bons and watch TV.

But I digress.

Kate flew in to see another dear friend of hers in the area. I say “another” because now we’re dear friends, too, which was only to be expected. Lainy and I…well, actually, Lainy was the first to meet her at the gate because I had gone to check the location of a Cinnabon. Unfortunately, Kansas City does not have a very convenient terminal set-up when it comes to food. We were at Terminal C and the Cinnabon was at Terminal A. Now if the KC airport had a cool little tram so we could have zipped over and zipped back……..

I mention that because Kate had said in her blog once that she wanted to hit Cinnabon at as many different airports as she could. So being the dear friend that I am, I tried to accommodate her. I know, I know—the sacrifices I make.

Anyway, we loaded up in the car and headed toward the area we would drop her off to meet her friend, and found a charming little restaurant to have breakfast and get acquainted. When we went to leave (several hours later), the manager was going to charge us for laughs and giggles. At that point, I was just glad they didn’t charge us for directions. You see, Kate asked the waitress where the restrooms were before we sat down at our table. So the waitress gave her a quarter turn and pointed at a sign on the wall straight ahead that said “Restrooms.” That long, drawn out, complicated explanation could have cost us a pretty penny.

Do ya think we all hit it off?

Before we knew it, it was time to take Kate to meet the friend she was staying with, and Lainy and I had the honor of meeting him. [Insert “Twilight Zone” music.] Two Wolves and I think we remembered each other from different jobs we held over 20 years ago. AND, it turns out he and his wife live—literally—just down the road from me. What were the chances?!

You know…if you’ve already read about most of this over at Kate’s blog………I haven’t—so tough!

So let me tell you about the day we got to spend together. Lainy and I picked Kate up and ran over to my house so she could see it really was only a hop, skip, and a jump away. And then we were off….

…to the boats. Mm hmm. Turns out Kate is quite the little gambler. But first we had to fortify ourselves, so we pigged out at the “all you can eat” buffet. Then we went to spending money. They’ve had riverboat gambling here for quite a few years, but this was only the third time I had been to one to actually gamble. My winning experiences went from 50% to 66%! Yep, I found a nickel slot that was good to me. And Kate found a penny slot (I think it was a penny) that was even better to her! But I won’t mention poor Lainy, because she didn’t win.

After that, we stopped for coffee and dessert (crème brulee!!!!!) to figure out what we would do next. Lainy’s hubby had injured himself at work the day before and she was worried about him, yada yada, so she decided to head back home. Of course, if I had known she’d be on the phone with him most of the way, trying to dodge the tornadoes…

But she made it safely and that way I got a chance to spend some time with Kate by myself. We had an interesting discussion about several things—I need to see if she actually came up with a Top 10 Countdown. I asked her about her beliefs and learned they really aren’t that far off from mine, it’s actually pretty fascinating to me.

Eventually, I did have to take her back to Two Wolves’. Damn it.

Those of you that know me know that I generally have a pretty good time with people. I like to laugh and have fun, joke with waitresses or a check-out clerk. Kind of spread the joy, right? I don’t know if I’m contagious, or if it’s because of you people I hang around. But I know if any of you ever get the chance to meet Kate, you’ll love her, too. I don’t think saying “she fit right in” is as accurate as saying she’s just like naturally one of the gang. Understand?

So let me leave you with one of the memories from our day.

Geez I miss those girls.

Now then, you might want to run over to Holly's blog and wish her a happy birthday (tell her I sent you). And if Lainy had a blog, you could do the same for her. But she doesn't, so you can't. I'll wish you both a happy birthday right here and it will be so much fun to see both of you in a few short weeks! Too bad Kate has to hang around for a grandbaby and can't make it here.

Flo