Saturday, February 17, 2018

Three Hippie Chicks And Me

Mina, Vicki, and Kelsey (seated) in the Barrio Viejo in Tucson, AZ
My best friend is a hippie. 

OK, well, not a real hippie.  She's more Bohemian, free-spirit, a live-and-let-live type.  She embraces casual and personifies laid-back.

Easygoing, down-to-earth, engaging, funny, non-judgemental, kind, not influenced by trends, unencumbered by "stuff", happy to bloom where she's planted, a lover of the simple life.  She probably hasn't purchased a tube of lipstick or wielded a curling iron in 30 years. 

In other words, the polar opposite of me.

And she's been this way since the first day I met her, 32 years ago, at a ski resort in the Catskill Mountains.  I walked in wearing a red silk blouse, black trumpet skirt, black heels, and a merino wool cape.  Don't laugh, capes were in style at the time.  And it was my mother's, I just borrowed it for my interview.  I had big eighties-style hair and a full face of makeup.

Vicki was wearing a turtleneck, sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers.  Maybe mascara.  Same hairstyle as in the photo above.  That's how we rolled - I was full-on glam, she was usually in boxer shorts and a sweatshirt and no bra.  We still laugh about how it is we're best of friends.  We think so much alike that we joke we share two halves of the same brain.  She is my soulmate if such a thing exists. 

She came to visit me this month, with her daughter Mina and Mina's best bud, Kelsey.  We had a great time.  I was transported back to my twenties when we'd sit around my house in the woods and talk and laugh as time passed without notice.  We were inseparable.  Ed made a comment after Vicki left about how much laughing we did.  He said, "I heard what you were talking about.  I was listening to every word.  But I still have no idea why you were laughing."  And he never will.  We didn't leave him out, he was included in everything we all did while she was here, but we have something special and it's never been duplicated.  My life was filled with a familiar joy when she was here.  I felt alive and energized.  The vibe was decidedly different.

She texted me after she left saying how she missed me so much already.  I miss her, too.  There may be distance between us physically, but mentally we're always in the same place.

A visit to Nashville is now on the 2018 calendar.  




~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2017: The Fanciest Digs In Town

2016: Moon Rising
2015: Almost There
2014: Winter Water Running Through Watertown
2013: The Pretty Pink Sailor
2012: Many Thanks To Those Of You Who Come To Peer Through My Window
2011: And I Thought My Feet Were Big!
2010: ABC. Easy As 123. As Simple As Do Re Mi, ABC, 123, Baby You And Me
2009: Under The Black Palm Tree
2008: The Zoo In Stateroom 7377
2007: Pillars
2006: Fiori Di Como
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!

No comments: