I found out yesterday that a friend of mine from high school had a brain aneurysm over a week ago and her family decided to take her off life support. She died yesterday afternoon. I am in shock. We hadn't seen each other much lately as we drifted apart after college, but we'd recently reconnected on facebook. She was one of my best friends in High School. There was a group of 6 of us that hung out as the "non-drinkers" in our school. She made me laugh hysterically. We had adventures that got us stuck in the mud, had me driving her car into a ditch when she tried to teach me to drive a stick, getting my dad's flashlight run over by a logging truck. I will always think of her when I think of caramellos. And Dr. Pepper. And Beef Jerky. (usually all at the same time when we were driving around) The world seems a little dimmer without her in it. At the same time, it's all so surreal. We're too young for this, right? She is the 2nd person in our class to die, which maybe doesn't sound so bad, but when you graduate with a class of 40, most of whom you went to kindergarten with, it makes it harder. Someone pointed out that it's 5% of our class. I didn't need to know that. I will miss my friend.

Sigh

I'm having a flirtation. I have no idea if it will actually go somewhere, but at the moment I'm enjoying that giddy, new relationship high. Now I just need to channel some of that excess energy into figuring out what to do once I'm without a call in a month...

Friday 5--"If"

1. If you were a color, what would you be?

Blue! It's my favorite color, and I love it in pretty much all of it's shades. It can be bright and cheerful or dark, almost black. I can almost always find a shade of blue to match my mood.

2. If you were a flower (or plant), what would you be?
I have no idea. I love lilacs but don't know how to make that into an appropriate metaphor...

3. If you were an animal, what kind would you be?

I want to say something big and fierce and cool, but I think I'll go with turtle. They're quiet, in their shell, move slowly. Oh, except I should amend this to snapping turtle, because I do occasionally get feisty.

4. If you were a shoe, what type would you be?
Oooh--a magical shoe that was both amazing and impractical and fancy while at the same time being comfortable and sturdy and appropriate.

5. If you were a typeface, which font would you be?
Comic Sans MS, but again I don't have a good metaphor for this one. Did I mention I kind of suck at metaphors? Except that they remind of me of my OT prof in seminary who used to yell "it's a metaphor!" And that just makes me giggle.

Memory Loss

Sometimes I wonder/worry about the things I've forgotten. I was having a conversation with a friend recently (we went to school k-12 together) and he brought up something from math class. Our last names are close in the alphabet so we were frequently seated together. Actually, my mom says teachers used to make me sit next to him not because of the alphabet, but because I was the only one who could keep him under control. I don't remember that. Of course, the teachers probably wouldn't have shared that little tidbit with me, so I might not need to worry about forgetting that particular information. Anyhoo...he brought up something he clearly remembered from a high school math class and I had no idea what he was talking about. After thinking about it for awhile I think I might have a vague memory of it, but no clear details. Sometimes I feel like I've either blocked or forgotten big chunks of my life. Another example: I was trying to remember specific details from the year I lived in the campus ministry apartment during college. I remember lots of random things, but they don't add up to a whole year. Is that weird? I also can't remember the last name of my roommate during that year. On the other hand, I can remember all sorts of useless s--- from pop culture. It's weird, and possibly disturbing. Maybe I should get one of those memory enhancing game thingies...