Grilled Cheese Friendship

Today I had one of those quintessential fall days where I walked down a street in St. Paul which was perfectly lit with fall colors.  I was walking with Briana.  She is a friend for life...one of those people who has been with me since the first day of college.  And a little before.  When we met for the first time, we had grilled cheese for lunch.  I love this memory.   I, since this time, have become friends with Jamie Koch, who loves to MAKE grilled cheese for her friends.  She does it so well, and this is the best.  Once, we had our Bible study at her house and she made a whole bunch of them for us.  There is nothing like a grilled cheese and good friends at the end of a long day. 

Jamie Koch, if you are reading this, I want to eat grilled cheese with you again soon.  I'll bring the Tomato Bisque soup.




Briana and I strolled along the streets and talked about the colors of the houses, and the ways we matched or didn't match the house personalities.  We met a dog who had a great personality too, who followed us along the fence line until we were past his yard.  I was glad he had full use of such a big yard, and found myself imagining what kind of a life it had in this place.  (I hoped it was a good one.)  It made me miss my own dog from childhood.  We had a good one too. 

There are sidewalks along Laurel Street (and maybe a few others?) with poems written into the concrete.  Every 200 feet or so, there was a new poem, and we took the time to read them.  Sometimes they were sad, sometimes they made no sense at all, and sometimes they did make sense.  One talked about for once NOT wanting to talk at all or say anything to the world.  To alleviate this stress, the poet suggested taking a bite of a giant scoop of peanut butter so that words would be difficult to say.  This seemed like good advice on many levels.

On a totally unrelated note...Tomorrow I am going to be an purple 80s girl for Halloween.  Props to Maddie for suggesting these props for our staff.  We really needed some help.  I had to think about how this would go...as a teacher, you have to find a costume that can be a conversation piece but will not entirely distract from class for the whole hour.  Last year the middle school teachers were pirates, and I wore a bird on my shoulder for the whole day from Party City.  Annoying.  I did it for the good of the order, but 5th hour, I was really sick of feeling asymmetrical.  Now the bird is molting, and I don't know what to do with it.  I think I should donate it to the theater department at school.  My good friend is in charge of this growing program, after all. 

Stacy, if you are reading this, consider yourself the new owner of a fake bird.  It's not a creepy bird, and it's not cute either.  It's somewhere in the middle.  I'm sure there is a good name out there for it too, and that when someone might use it in a play, it wouldn't feel as asymmetrical on their shoulder as it did on mine.  I really do care about balance and symmetry.  But I am 99% positive that you knew that already.