Friends

One of the things that I’ve learned on this Sabbatical is who my friends are and who they are not. I’ve been surprised at who falls in both categories. I was blessed this weekend with friends everywhere making Christmas cherry and bright.

On Friday night I stayed home alone. Sam and Chelsea had come for dinner but they left early. Goddess and I sat beside a fire on the back deck until it started raining then we came inside. Though alone, my friends busted through the night with technology. Typically on Friday nights I go meet them at Bernie’s to listen to Sam Adams and Gordon play good live music. My friends did. I didn’t

So they texted me a play-by-play and send photographs. I must say that I had no idea that Whitley could dance. Or that Patti could dance in his lap like that! Or that grabbing a breast is a clever dance move! They were asking me to come and drive them home but I am smart enough to know that they were really just trying to get me there to join them. By now the rain was pouring and I could not imagine how I could possibly improve on the show that Whitley and Patti were putting on. So I stayed home.

Saturday morning at the Breakfast Club, a very red eyed Patti walked in, gave me a death stare and said, “Do not say one word.”

Of course that unleashed several hundred words at once. Plus I had Cheryl’s play-by-play on my I-phone and numerous photographs. Ah, good times!

That night I threw a party at my house. I now believe in miracles and the raising of the dead because Whitley showed up. I’m not certain that he remembers showing up because he was still living Friday night on Saturday. Though everyone was disappointed that he didn’t show us his clever dance moves, he did sway a lot.

So there was this party from six o’clock until ten o’clock and then Keller Deal arrived with a boy toy. In no time at all Keller Deal had run off all of the Tybee people so the rest of us sat around telling old Union Mission stories or making fun of current events. Sometime around three in the morning I feel asleep dreaming of love.

When I woke chestnuts were roasting on an open fire; meaning my throat was raw from laughter and wine. I drank several gallons of water before surveying my house. It looked like Afghanistan. Because I’ve spent so much time in Washington and Atlanta I picked up the phone and immediately made an application for disaster relief funds. At noon a check arrived and I hired a bulldozer to clear it all out.

Evidently I attended yesterday’s Bored meeting but have no real recollection of it. Johnny O did tell me that I enjoyed myself.

When I woke, someone was pounding on my head. Come to find out it was the front door. When I opened it there was my dear friend Dedra from college. It was time for another reunion. We forgot to invite Mark and Mitch. So Dedra and I plowed through the night, commandeering Nickie’s where my friend Randy “Hat man” Smith was playing live music and Phil and his wife Katie from the Breakfast Club were also eating. Then Gordon wandered in to tell us to come listen to him and Sam Adams play so we did. I am incredibly thankful that Dedra showed up otherwise I may have never made it home.

This morning Dedra and I went to the Breakfast Club, was joined by Johnny O and marveled again at Carolyn’s ability to say the alphabet backwards at lighting speed. She has been practicing this for years for when she was pulled for driving under the influence. Not too long ago she was and told the cop, “I am not drunk, Watch!”

She spit out the backwards alphabet at lighting speed. It freaked the cop out and she was arrested. Surely you had to be drunk to do this.

Dedra left and I fired up the computer. Carlos from St. Martin immediately messaged me reminding me that I am spending Christmas with him. There will be 40 people in his tiny two bedroom apartment in St. Martin. I will be the only white person there.

It will not be the first time that I’ve been the only white person in a crowd when I am with my friend. We once went to a lingerie show together and Carlos told me to hold our spot while he got us beers. I protested that he would never find me again but he was firm. After he left I burst out laughing. In a crowd of perhaps a thousand I was the only white person. Of course he could find me again.

Now I’m sitting here with my best friend Goddess. She is asleep. I lay down beside her. In no time at all we are snoring in unison.