stranger remedies

In high school I knew the name and I knew the face and I remember a particular instance right outside the eagle's nest where she walked by and I thought she looked cool. But I didn't know her. Several months ago she sent me a message on myspace.. She did not remember me at all but noticed we graduated the same year and she was messed up back then and has changed a lot which I think was her way of saying I should not take the fact that she did not remember me personally. She said she lived in Huntington Beach so we should hang out sometime. I kept agreeing but nothing ever really came of it so eventually I sort of accepted it was never going to happen. When she reported she was moving to Vancouver in two weeks I sent her best wishes and told her not to freeze to death. She called last night to see if I wanted to hang out. I had a long list of things to do that evening but I decided I should blow them off and go meet her and her brother at Goat Hill. The list will be there tomorrow but her days are now limited. We talked of high school a bit and I learned a few sad stories and now instead of a cool girl from high school she is an amazingly strong woman who managed to find happiness. I had questions and wanted to know if she had a support system but I figured it would not have been appropriate to ask. She was very outgoing so consequently we met several nice buzzed folk, some of whom were out traveling the world and disappointed there were not more chicks on the beach during the day. The brother was very nice and I knew his face. We decided we must recognize each other from multiple bar rush episodes at the Millstone. Him the drunk seeking something fried and brown at 2am after the bars closed and me, the serving wench who smiled no matter what the situation was at each table. They made an excellent sibling team at pool and were kicking everyone's butt. I learned they acquired the skills during those cold evenings in South Dakota when it was okay to be in the library bar when you were 18 and there was just nothing else to do but shoot pool. I was intrigued and for the first time actually enjoyed watching game after game of ball knocking. I think I even cheered a few times and high-fived with the slide and the fist bump. Yeah, I don't know who I was either. I stayed much later than I had anticipated but not with regrets. New friends, new memories, new smiles.

Another myspace event... I have heard great things about her but I don't hardly know her... (crimson and clover... just kidding). Okay, I don't know her at all, I just had to get that line in there, yet she managed to bring a smile to my face all evening. She thinks we would be friends and said so on her page. It was a very pleasant surprise and something she just did simply to be kind. She did not have to say anything. I made a comment to express my gratitude but then wished I had also said how cool I think it is that she had the red photo booth at her wedding and that Heidy once said that she thought her and I would be friends.

The last few days I have felt a bit irritable and I had no explanation as to why but it felt like it was going to last forever. I think going out and doing something last night, even though I had to sacrifice some sleep and productivity really helped as did kind words from myspace friends. It was like a little recharge.