"Who" Loves Ya Baby

 In the fall of 2008 I was interviewing for a friend.  I'm not playing! I found myself short on friends and had been quietly looking for the right one for months.  Don't Judge me-I HAD friends-but their lives were all changing in ways mine was not (and I was all supportive and fine with it, but still changes...) What I mean of course is my friends were all having babies so their schedules were all dictated by those little tiny creatures and most conversations were sort of "Single-sided two much information sessions". For the sake of realism here I will say no matter how happy I was for them, I could not relate nor did I want to. I really deep down just wanted to play....Enter E. Lee (AKA- Elizabeth Lee, E-lee (one word) E, Frannie, Francis, Red, Lil F, and my personal favorites Cuppy, Cuppy Cake and most often just Cup) 8 feet tall-blazin red hair-from The ATL. Same with any interview-1st impressions are important rigth? Right off she nailed it-I observed this long strand of beads I quickly recognized as Kenyan made jewelry (Well played there cup! Rule #1. Know your audience). Conversation starts easy enough and with minimal awkwardness we were laughing and making fun of ourselves and each other...and perhaps a few innocent by standers....SCORE-MAJOR-POINTS. If this offends you-I recommend you stop following my blog-no, seriously...a prerequisite to building a friendship with me is laughing-a-lot, both at yourself AND other people. I am not ashamed of it-I am a people watcher and people make fun of er. And anyone who can't really join in on that isn't someone I can be that close to-so yea, she passed the preliminary round. Another (not mandatory but quite helpful as I find lots and LOTS of opportunities to laugh at both myself AND others here) is the friend for hire has some desire to workout at the gym-for the sake of common interests I mean-it's just helpful. At our second conversation regarding-well..nonsense maybe-who knows I thru down the gauntlet-I asked her to join me for a spin class at the Y. Figuring if she accepted and actually showed up she was a "yes". It's true, yes, I wanted to see if she was fearless enough to give it a try. She not only showed up for spin appropriately dressed (nothing worse than inviting someone to your "place of cool" and having them all decked out in glittery pink spandex and a Jane Fonda sweat band) After spin we had Jason's Deli (points with me-love Jason's) Starbuckie (hallloooo) AND then...Sonic (yes, that is correct). Conversation jumped from one random nonsensical issue to another to another and touched on everything from The Braves to music and art. I was going thru a Jack Johnson phase then and she was quite supportive. I was not nearly as supportive as she disclosed her long standing admiration for boy bands....NKOTB? REALLY LIZ?  She redeemed herself with quickness by displaying one of the most diverse ITunes collections I've seen to date.  When leaving Sonic at midnight I called TK "She is SOOOOO IN" I said and the "Friend Wanted" sign was removed.

It's been 3 years since that first spin class and ALAS! she too is about to become a mom.  She is so excited I couldn't be happier for her.  I got all excited about painting the kids room and just can not wait to meet who I like to call "Mini E"

Last night as I was finishing her room I asked "T-Money" (That's Baby-Daddy-AKA Terry but whatever) "Do you think Liza will like her room?" I said.

Without hesitation and with a big grin he answered. "If she is anything like Elizabeth she SURE will."

And you know what? I hope she is. I REALLY REALLY hope she is.

May she be happy and silly and crazy and willing to try anything and have the "passion for life" just like you Elizabeth.  May she have the very best qualities of you both! 

Thanks for the opportunity to paint her room! And thanks for answering the "friend wanted" add.  Your contract has been amended to include Liza and has been renewed for yet another year! YAY!