Runnin' with the Pack

Yesterday morning at 6 a.m. I was in my backyard hammering a 4 foot metal stake into the ground. There is another stake somewhere nearby but, for the life of me, I can't find it. I raked and raked through the leaves and grass but could not find it. Terry said, "It's there. You know nobody stole it." Yes, I know that but where is it? I have better things to do with my time than spend an hour raking through the grass and leaves not to mention the Barkley crumbles looking for that stake so I hammered in the new one. It was unseasonably warm and light outside due to daylight savings so I was in my pajamas but wearing shoes (due to the Barkley crumbles). As soon as I got the stake in the ground, I headed back to the house and quite suddenly found myself sliding down the yard on my back. I remember going something like "Aaaaaa-ck!" I twisted my left foot and when I "came to" and sat up, my shoes were off. Not back up the bank behind me where the origin of the fall occurred but near my feet as though the shoes got off when the ride was over. By this time Barkley was licking me in the head so I got up and walked a little creakily into the house. Karma, who is sensitive, was barking anxiously from the front porch and Tantra, completely oblivious, was staring at Bluff Mountain either in deep meditation of the origin of the cosmos or without a thought in his head, it's hard to tell which.

The rest of the day was better but I did spend a considerable part of it limping on the twisted foot. It's better today, though, thank you very much.

So my Katie is a freshman at NC State in Raleigh and I drove there yesterday to spend the day with her and her roommate Amanda. Katie and Amanda have been best friends since first grade - it amazes and surprises and even shocks me a little sometimes how close they are. They are probably closer than I am to my sister and I think we're pretty close. We had a fun day. We didn't do a whole lot but it was nice just getting to be together. I got to see their dorm room which is tiny but cute. All the modern conveniences of home crammed into what amounts to some people's walk-in closet. Katie and Amanda have identical computers and they sit down and click on their AOL IM screens then jump up and maybe answer a call on their cell phones or apply a straightening iron to their hair and then sit down at opposite computers and type on each other's AOL IM screens or play a favorite tune. When asked why they switch back and forth like that they acted like they didn't even know that they did and answered with shoulder shrugs, "I don't know." (Later, a lady at the mall would ask them if they're twins!) They don't look alike, I don't think, well, at least they don't look identical, but they give off that sort of eerie twin energy.

We had lunch at Chik-fil-a and then shopped for awhile at Barnes and Noble (I could spend my life in THAT store). Katie and Amanda both said, as we walked in, "I hate books. I hate to read." I, on the other hand, work for a publisher, read at least 20 minutes a day and have stacks and stacks of books by my bedside in queue. I can't understand it when people don't read (my very own husband - how did that happen?) but I try to accept and love them the same as I do we bibliophiles.

Meanwhile, I talked to my brudda, Keith, who lives in Raleigh and I haven't seen in nearly 3 years. We made tentative plans to meet for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, the thoughts of which manifested very pleasant physical reactions in Katie, Amanda and myself.

We returned to the dorm so Katie and Amanda could get dressed for dinner and then headed out to Walmart and Target. Keith informed us that the wait at Cheesecake Factory was two and a half hours so we ended up at Kanki's, a Japanese steakhouse not unlike Makoto's to all you locals. Keith's dad and his wife and one of Keith's friends joined us and we also had a lovely couple from Elizabeth City, NC at our table. They asked me if Katie and Amanda were my daughters. I nearly cried. How flattered I was and a little wistful at the same time. I said that I wished they were and Katie paid me a high compliment by saying I was like a second mom to her.

Here's how we looked:



Katie and Amanda



Amanda, Keith and Katie



Katie and me



Everette and Sandy



Katie about to take a bite of a California roll (sushi) dipped in wasabe.



Katie's face after taking a bite of a California roll dipped in wasabe.



Keith instructs Amanda on chopstick usage.



Amanda gives it the ol' college try and comes out laughing.



Now it's Katie's turn



And she actually gets some food in her mouth



Our dinner party quickly descended into madness, much to the amusement and possible chagrin of the Spencers. To be fair to Keith, there were some even crazier photos of Katie and me but they were taken with Katie's camera so, unfortunately, I can't post them here. Suffice it to say, a fun time was had by all.

We ended up at the Cheesecake Factory for dessert. I got a piece of Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake and got to have a taste of Keith's pumpkin pecan piece while he tasted mine. We both agreed, believe it or not, that we preferred the pumpkin to the chocolate although the chocolate was by no means a lightweight contender. Katie, Amanda and I walked (well, I actually limped) through the mall then went back to the dorm. By this time it was very late and I was starting to get homesick for my Karma. I had bought her a stuffed pink elephant squeaker toy at Target. I got home around 3 am, only passing about half a dozen deer en route.

My house is a wreck, the laundry is piled up and the garbage needs to be hauled off but Karma is waiting for me to come and take a nap with her. Karma cannot be denied.

***

After my nap, I awoke thinking about my day with Katie yesterday and the maternal feelings I have for her and then I thought how it wasn't right for me to write all about her and people thinking that I'm her mom without saying that Katie has a mother who loves her and misses her even more than I do. It is easy to spend a day being a mother vicariously and another thing entirely to spend a lifetime at the job - a task I have never been brave enough to face. I can only take credit for the fact that Katie loves the Beatles. I can't take credit for how beautiful she is, inside and out. That's all on account of the kind of people that her mom and dad are. Katie's grandma and my grandma were sisters. Katie's mom, Kim, is only a little bit older than I am but enough to make a huge difference when I was a little kid. She seemed like an adult when I was six - although she wasn't nearly. We were always close growing up and enjoyed playing together and then, after that, talking girl talk as we got older. When Kim and Jimmy were first married, I spent the night at their house alot and Kim and I did almost everything together. Jimmy used to say that if Kim ever left him, it would be for me. Then Katie was born and I was able to keep her alot and spend a lot of time with her so we bonded early. She couldn't say Brenda so she called me "BB" and thought that a "BB" was something everyone had like a mother or a nana. She would ask other kids, "Who is your BB?" Kim always shared Katie with me and still does it to this day. I asked her to go with me yesterday but she said for me to go so Katie and I could have some time together. In the end, Katie has a wonderful family who loves her very much and I would never want to horn in on it or presume anything. At the same time, I'm proud and very happy to be a part of that family.