Nat-a-leeeeeeee

So really, the weather is making.....me.....sleeeeeeeeeeeepy. Two days in a row of waking up to pounding rain and dark skies. I love when it rains, for the most part (other than the times I lived in Springtown and I thought I was going to float away!), but I can't really function as a normal member of society with such heavy eyelids.

So anyway, moving on, while I have this brief spurt of energy (thanks to peanut butter cups, I'm sure).

::

I have another friend's birthday to recognize. Seriously, I need to ask: Were all of our parents a bit on the horn-ball side back in September 1977???, because I sure do know a lot of people with May birthdays. I digress....

Natalie's birthday was actually Cinco de Mayo, but apparently I was too busy blogging about something else.

Natalie and I met in a very interesting way back in high school. I briefly dated a guy named Erick, who was a nice guy, great body, big d....oh, sorry. Too much info? Well, anyway. He was a nice guy, but I quickly realized that I wasn't ready for a nonchalant bed-buddy type of relationship. So, I broke it off, but we were still friendly. However, during our brief trysts, Erick told me about a girl he had briefly dated (in the same nonchalant bed-buddy type of way, apparently), named Natalie. He said she had just moved here from Cali, and she was gorgeous. Apparently he really liked her, but didn't know how to tell her. And, the nice girl that I am, I offered to help him out with her, if he would show her to me in the halls. Which he didn't......

So one day in English class, this new girl walks in. Long unruly hair (amazingly, like mine!), great legs (unlike mine), beautiful eyes. She sat behind me. At some point in time during the period, one of us said something about Erick, and we began comparing notes, to see if we were both talking about the same guy. That is when I realized that this was his Natalie!

We clicked immediately. We began hanging out non-stop. We hung out in her pool, we drove all over town in my convertible, we drank, we went to the playground in the dark, we spent nearly every Saturday night at different clubs, but mostly the long-gone Eden 2000......

There was this one time we decided to go ride go-carts. And we were peeling out and being a bit crazy. Some dumbass rammed into the back of my go-cart going 42.5 miles an hour, which caused me to slam my face into the steering wheel. I have pictures to prove the injury-a bloody nose and HUGE fat lips. Natalie laughed forever about that one, and took the pictures.

Another time, we hung out in an old friend's abandoned house, with sleeping bags, flashlights, and alcohol. Zimas with skittles at the bottom. Purple Passion. Lots of vodka. Always with the vodka. We had the greatest time telling stories in the dark.

OH! And there was this time we decided to go to the after-party of some crazy guys we met at a club...and we jumped up and down on the motel beds, acting like dorks!

Oh! And then-

Oh. You don't need to hear all of it, lest you decide I sounded like a filthy whore back at the ripe age of 17.

So anyway, Natalie moved back to California to live with her best friend, so she could have her senior year with all the people she had grown up with in Cali. And I desperately missed her. But, then I started saving my money and going to Cali on a regular basis, where we drank, drove around town, danced drunk on picnic tables, did lap dances for random white trash guys....oh, the filthy whore thing again, right? She has come back to Texas a couple of times to visit, and we made great memories: flashing my nosey neighbor in Saginaw one night (filthy whore! filthy whore!), toilet papering Cia's house....and we even met in Vegas for a few days to be in Cia's wedding. We were hot together, in our flapper dresses! Oh, the days of the pre-baby body.....

Two years ago the hubby and I went to Cali for her wedding. [I cannot explain how Cali makes me feel. I get so excited; the blood practically buzzes through my body. If it weren't so expensive, and I wasn't so attached to my family here in Texas, I would move in a heartbeat. I actually have in my heart the desire to buy a small little beach house there....Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, La Jolla, somewhere along the coast by San Diego. ] Natalie was a beauty, and I really need to post some pictures of her in her beautiful dress!!!

I have finally given up any hope that Natalie will move back. I know that she belongs in California; it suits her. I cannot think of one without the other. But I miss both desperately.

We have been friends for 13 years. Natalie is amazing. She is smart, kind, loyal, gorgeous, motivated.....If she wasn't my friend, I would be totally jealous! (Actually, I'm still sorta jealous!) She brings the party-girl out in me, more than anyone else.

She is non-judgemental. I could tell her all my secrets-and she knows most of them-and she would never judge me or look down on me. I can tell her my mistakes, and she will not judge me, or make me feel worse than I already do. Maybe it's the distance between us, but I don't think so. I think that most of it is this: she can accept me for all that I am because I accept her for all that she is.

Her husband threw her a 70's Boogie party for her 30th birthday. I wanted to go soooo bad. I know I would have had an awesome time, and Natalie and I would have been great together in our go-go boots.

Nat, Happy 30th Birthday! Welcome to 30! I have no doubt that you will make it look simple, sexy, and fun. I love you and miss you!

(Doesn't she look all sexy & gorgeous!? Damn pre-baby body.)