I should alert my 5 subscribers that this post isn't really about "taking" its more of a background piece on Stephanie's and my friendship which is relevant because I mention her frequently in my blog and on my Facebook page. Sometimes people who don't know me or Stephanie well wonder if my teasing is, perhaps, a little harsh. This post should clear the air on that topic...
As many of you know I have a best friend. Her name is Stephanie and this blog was 1/2 her idea. We concocted the idea together at the Firebowl Cafe here in Austin. Many of you have also noticed that I give Stephanie a lot of grief on her blog and on Facebook and this post is all about why I do that, why we are friends, and why Stephanie needs so much of my "advice" and "counsel".
Steph and I met in 2005 when we were both working at the same company. We started a weekly ritual of having dinner together every Wednesday night. Sometimes we went out and sometimes we hung out at my place and cooked dinner (read: I cooked Kraft Macaroni & Cheese for Stephanie) and just watched Law & Order. But whatever we were doing that one night per week was the time we unwound, complained about the things people complain about, and laughed a lot. In other words, we had a perfect girlfriends night once a week.
In 2006 Stephanie got married and my living room and our Wednesday nights became ground zero for the creation of wedding programs, menus, save the date cards etc. Over time, as some friends do, we started to notice that we each had a few quirks and, as friends do, we started to make fun of each other for those quirks. Sometimes humor really keeps you grounded and honest about who you are.
When Stephanie got pregnant in 2010 she told me by bringing me a bouquet of flowers with a card that said, "You are going to be Aunt Liz"! It was so sweet. I was very nervous about how her pregnancy would change our friendship as I am not a big "child lover" and I have to admit, I didn't really want to share Stephanie and our Wednesday nights with a baby.
I think Steph knew about my apprehension and so as usual we approached the situation with humor. We started joking around about her unborn baby whom she called "Lumpy". We joked about how all the Splenda she consumed would cause the child to be born a cyclops. We joked about how Matt & Steph would love little Lumpy even if (or in Matt's case "especially if") he were born with features that made him fit to join the circus and tour as a "freak". In other words we both had a good laugh about Steph's pregnancy and, over time, I got a lot more comfortable with sharing my best friend with a Lumpy little baby. In fact, I started to get excited about becoming Aunt Liz.
Since I am a control freak the mere thought of being Aunt Liz sent me into a planning frenzy. Lumpy would need to start learning a language in the womb. He should start physics at age 2. And of course he would go to Stanford or maybe Harvard. Aunt Liz started to have big plans for Lumpy which amused Stephanie but I also think she kind of liked the fact that I was now excited about (instead of being apprehensive about) her baby. Stephanie teased me about my plans for Lumpy just as I started to tease her about undoing all my planning for the baby's future. And so the foundation for our jokes about her parenting skills was laid.
Then Lumpy - renamed Cash at birth - was born. Aunt Liz and Uncle Jonathan fell in love with little Cash who was such a sweet baby. But one thing we started to notice is that when shown a baby (or even a phot of one) every single person in the world seems compelled to say "ooh how cute" and "ooh he is so beautiful" and its so predictable and boring. I started rolling my eyes every time Steph posted a photo of Cash on her blog or Facebook page and saw that 40 people wrote, "Oh he is so cute". Really? That is the best comment you can come up with? Nothing funny? Nothing interesting?
Since I can't stand being predictable or boring I started leaving comments on Stephanie's blog that were just the opposite of what any normal person would say about Cash, his antics, and his photos because it made Stephanie laugh. And then we found out that some of Steph's friends and family were in on our joke and they started reading my comments and it made them laugh too. So Stephanie started writing things and posting photos on her blog that she knew would bait me into writing my "rants"...and it became a fun inside joke among our closest friends and family. And that is what it remains today. So for anyone who reads our Facebook banter or the banter on this blog or Running With Lumpy now you know why we tease each other so mercilessly...because it makes us laugh. And we hope you laugh along too!
If you read this far I should tell you that I just "took" your valuable time reading my blog. Thankfully I was able to "take" something of value (your time) from you today.
PS: Stephanie - don't think for a minute that just because I wrote a few nice things about you that I am going to stop making fun of you. Oh, and I stole 50 of your invisible magic beans from your backyard today. I know that is going to drive you freaking crazy and you will probably search your whole yard for them tomorrow and you won't find them.
Trust me, I would never want you to stop making fun of me. I'm not sure what you would do with all your time if you stopped making fun of me - you might become productive or something.
ReplyDeleteI would like to find a way to get another 24 hour moratorium on the "making fun of me", because sending you emails of all the awesome stuff I was doing (without you being able to retaliate) was a shit-ton of fun.
Never going to happen unless I do something that I feel really guilty about and that is the only "gift" I can give to make things up to you. That was the worst 24 hours of my life. It was like being in one of those dunking booths and you had perfect aim and like 100 baseballs to throw to knock me in ice cold water every 2 minutes. I am tearing up just thinking of that day....I need to go crawl into the closet and have a good cry now.
ReplyDelete