Back Home Part 4 - Friends

Part of the reason I went back to Columbus was to see some very dear friends to me that I hadn't seen in a very long time. Reunion or not, I was going to see them. You know that close group of friends you hung out with while you were in collage? That group of friends that you did stuff with, both legal (and in my case ) questionable? You had parties together, you knew the ins and outs to everyone's lives and nothing else seemed to matter except for you and your friends? I have 5 of those people in my life and we all love each other as much now as we did back in the day 20 some years ago. There was me, Julie, two Robs and two Michelle's. Mom, to this day, differentiates the two Michelle's by "Hair Michelle" and " Flower Michelle." Hair Michelle did just that. She went to cosmetology school and did hair for a living. She was the first person to ever cut my Moms hair short. Flower Michelle worked at a popular Florist Shop and thus was dubbed, Flower Michelle. That's how Mom told them apart. The Tuesday I was in Columbus I had a chance to have lunch with both of the Michelle's and it was a fabulous reunion! Dammit if I didn't get any pictures of Hair Michelle. I did get some pics the night we went to Rob and Michelle's for dinner Sunday evening after my trunk show. Back in the day, Flower Michelle dated Rob P....the Rob I went on my road trip with. At the same time, the other Rob, Rob A was dating Julie. Well, a few years after our road trip Rob came out to my parents as practice before coming out to his own. Everyone was always close with my folks. Still are. They're easy going, fun and very easy to talk to. They also wont blow smoke up your ass. I love them for it. I feel like I have always known Rob was gay, he just had his own process he had to go thru to get there, if you know what I mean. The irony is that Flower Michelle is now married to Rob A (who used to date our close friend Julie). I know it all sounds confusing! Bottom line, here we are 20 some years later and getting together was just like getting together years ago. There was no time, space or distance between us. Nothing felt funny. It all felt like it was supposed to...

This is me and Flower Michelle. I love her dearly. She has always been very funny, kind, and caring. She is an unbelievable mother. She has raised a wonderful and thoughtful and kind son who is now in his first year of college. That time when we were all hanging out back in the day. I love her with  my whole heart and always will. 

This is Rob A on the left to whom Flower Michelle is married. On the right you see Rob P, my road trip partner. Annnd, that's me in the foreground playing with my phone...

Rob, me and Michelle. Damn it was good to see them again! 

Another visit I made a point to make was to Heidi and her daughter Bentley. I wrote about my friend Heidi back when her pregnancy was announced and I knew I would be knitting for the wee babe. It took me a while to get there because I had been in the hospital almost all of last May, I finished the sweater sometime in July of 2014 I think. You can read the initial post here. There was no way I was making it to Ohio and NOT going to meet Bentley! She's an awesome handful already. But one thing I noticed, either she was showing off for me or she listens really well. I got a ton a cute photos, here are a few of them....

Heidi put the sweater I made her on her to show me that she can still get some wear out of it!

I brought my nearest and dearest gift bags filled with New Mexico things for them all to share. This is a perfect pic to see how Bentley systematically took apart the bags with the gifts I brought for them from New Mexico. Not only does Bentley still look great in her sweater, she must've known that right on top inside the bag was a new t shirt for her from Balloon Fiesta 2015! I was so stinkin' cute to watch her pull everything out of its wrapper! Love this kid, yes I do!

Strike a pose Bentley!

Julie and I grew up across the street from one another, I think I just wrote about this in the past couple posts, and I already knew I was going to go and visit her folks. Her folks are a lot like mine. Especially when it comes to blowing smoke up ones ass...they don't know how to do that and I rather like that about them. When we were kids growing up, we all knew each other on our street. All the kids knew each other and all the parents knew each other. Any time I forgot my house key I could always go to Bob and Carolyn's place and they would take me in until someone came home. It was like that though. It was a different time. I would've been able to go to anyone's house on my street and would be fine. The parents kept and eye on all the kids. Its just what we did back then. 

I cant be sure but its possible that this was Carolyn's very first selfie. She did great!

Rob and I took this one on one of the last nights we had together. I love this pic. It sums up about 20 years for us. After the visits I had with people I made a promise to myself. I don't care whats going on from year to year but either annually or every other year, I'm going back for visits. These friendships are too important not to nurture and maintain the very best way I can. 17 years was way too long for me to wait to go back to Ohio. I'm so glad that that's one of the things I got out of this. 

Come back tomorrow when I'll be sharing info and pics from my Santa Fe trunk show with Crave Yarn! Until then....Knit On!