Emily

I have been around a number of things lately that remind me of one of my favorite people - Emily.

Emily and I met in our freshman year of college - we had a mutual friend (who later disappeared off the face of the earth via marriage), and we were in the same sorority. We bonded one day when we discovered a shared guilty pleasure (really guilty - we both were strangely fascinated by a truly horrible TV show, "Sweet Valley High." I know. Your respect for me just dropped a bit. I understand.), and we've been good friends for... crap. 11 years now. Seriously, are we that old?

Emily gave me a wild side and I gave her some restraint. It's because of her that I can tell people I've been clubbing and cruising the streets of Salt Lake City well after midnight. Any knowledge I have of Buffy, Roswell, and rejecting Italian men comes from her.

Emily very much enjoyed (enjoys?) llamas, so when I saw this commercial tonight, I thought again of her and decided to write this long-intended post:



Cute, isn't it?

Reason #2 Why I've Been Thinking of Emily:
I've been shopping for plane tickets and travel books for my upcoming Yay! 30! trip. Emily and I celebrated our graduation from college the year we were both 20 by backpacking Europe for 6 weeks together. If that doesn't cement a friendship for life, I don't know what does. We saw 10 countries, loads of art museums, visited Mercedes, got very sick, chased Shetland ponies, ate a ton of Chinese food, scared ourselves silly in a village in Germany, were robbed on a train going into Amsterdam, babysat a little girl who only spoke German, got caught in the rain in Paris in white outfits, spent a long night on a train with four Air Force Academy graduates (who were perfect gentlemen), got in a huge fight at Versailles, went to Disneyland Paris the next day to make up for it, and had the time of our lives. It'll be fun to see some new countries with Jason, but in a lot of ways I wish it were Emily going instead.

Plus, we got round-trip airline tickets for $600. Those were the days!

Reason # 3 Why I've Been Thinking of Emily:
For Rachel's birthday a few weeks ago, she invited me to go to a dance club with her and some friends. Many a Friday night went like this:
1) I drive to Emily's house.
2) I sit on Emily's bed and we talk while she tried on various outfits.
3) 2-4 hours later, we head out to a dance club.
4) We (and by that I mostly mean Emily) dance for a bit.
5) Leave the dance club and find some food or head back to watch a movie.

If I were the kind of person who drinks, I'm sure the dancing would have been a lot more comfortable for me. I'm all for dancing when it's choreographed - tell me what to do, and I"m fine. When it's free-form, though, it's totally out of my comfort zone. I spent the first half of the dancing with Rachel and co. moving awkwardly and watching the other people. Aside from the girl who was very seriously executing a Fosse-routine-gone-wrong, complete with bowler-hat; the old guy who was dancing exclusively and extensively with his arms; and the occasional really, really drunk people (one of whom mistook me for a banister at one point and groped me thoroughly as she stumbled down the stairs); I discovered something important: people don't move their feet much when they dance. I started to loosen up a bit more (unlike Rachel, who is an excellent dancer in all forms, and Mavi, whose awesome abandon carries into her crane-like dancing) and had a little fun. Still not comfortable, but I'm glad I went.

Reason #4 Why I've Been Thinking of Emily:
Disco Roller Skating.

Yes, you read that right, Em.

Okay, when we were in college and used to hang out with some other girls (Stephanie, Rachel, and Natasha), on more than one occasion we found ourselves spending more time debating what to do than actually doing stuff.

In a burst of creativity, Emily seized an athletic sock, drew a face on it, dubbed it Sherman, and wrote out a bunch of possible activities on slips of paper that went into Sherman. Sherman showed the bias of his creator, though, seeing as how Emily had written "Disco Roller Skating" on at least half of the papers.

Somehow, though, we never actually did that. When I found out the February ward activity was, in fact, disco roller skating, I was trepidatious (as I was every time Emily brought it up). In my new "I'm Relief Society president so I am totally into all things ward-related!" space, though, I bucked up and did the best I could to dress up for it. I put my hair up in pincurls:



and turned it into the best afro I could:



And off I went!

First of all, there is a whole different brand of freak I didn't know about that is the hard-core disco skaters.
Secondly, I had to go request that the DJ play disco music (strange, right?), and he said he wasn't really sure what disco music was, could I name some songs and he would see if he had any of those. Turns out, he did have "Dancing Queen".
Third, roller skating places haven't changed a single bit since I was last there sometime in the 7th grade. Black lighting, ugly carpet with pictures of skates on them, lockers, the smells, the concessions - all exactly the same.
Fourth, as in the last time I went skating, the only way I know how to stop is by running into the wall.
Fifth, after a few laps with my arms outstretched for balance and the wall within reach, I actually picked up speed and could keep up with the general crowd!
Sixth, I didn't fall once!

Here's the thing. It was fun. It was actually really fun! Like, I totally regret not doing it with Emily in college and now I'm hoping there's a disco skating session in Grand Junction so the next time I visit her we can go, kind of fun.


Don't get me wrong - I think about most of you dear readers often. But you can see why Emily's been on my mind in particular lately, right?

P.S. I do have some great pictures of Em, but it's past my bedtime, and I don't feel like scanning right now. Sorry!