From 7-11 to Twenty Something

We eventually found it as evidenced by this picture of the glowing grad on the left, her boyfriend, and me, on the right (in case you’re new to this blog… heh). 

What made this party so much fun (outside of the open bar, DJ and great company!) was that I got to see my friend’s older sisters – 3 of them – who I had not seen for over a decade. See, my friend and I used to live on the same block when we were around 5 years old through the end of middle school, just at opposite ends. And we would spend nearly every day hanging out, riding our bikes, eating pizza on Friday nights, playing “night tag” and terrorizing the neighborhood boys (some things never change ). When we’d set up times to play, we’d meet at “the bush,” which was a large literal bush that sat at the edge of a house and extended all the way to the sidewalk and so happened to be smack in the middle of the block, so that we both walked equal distances from our houses to meet one another. My friend and I would love when her sisters were gone from her house, since that meant we could try on all of their clothes and shoes while pretending to be older and pretending to have cleavage that could actually fill out their shirts. Once, we didn’t hear their car pull up til a little too late, so we locked the door and rushed to throw everything back into the closet while her sisters banged on the door, demanding that we let them in. Busted.

One of her sister’s jokingly asked, “want to go to 7-11?!?” Growing up, we had a 7-11 across the street, literally, and we would go every single day without fail. Her sister recalled that one of my favorite items was a Twix. Another sister asked how I was “so skinny.” It was one of those awkward moments where I had to pause to figure out – do I tell her that in the past decade plus, I’ve gained and lost more than 150 pounds? Do I do that self-deprecating, but honest, thing where I remark about the insecurities I have with a body that I tend to view – more often than not – as “too big”? I just smiled and used some tired phrase about it being a ‘journey’ and indicated, honestly, that the only thing that has ever – and will continue – to work is focusing on engaging in healthful behaviors, more often than not, and shifting away from focusing on my weight (with the caveat that it’s easier said than done). Oy.

The rest of the weekend consisted of power-lifting with my boyfriend (apparently, all this time I’ve been calling our plan a “cross-fit” work-out and it’s really “power-lifting,” so there you go. My ignorance remains well intact). We watched a documentary called The People vs. George Lucas, which is really interesting, especially if you’re a Star Wars fan (I’m not) OR an artist of some sort (I consider myself such). I’d definitely recommend it. We also went to a matinee (i.e. affordable) screening of The Dictator. I thought it was hilarious, especially the love interest who is a feminist vegan who owns a co-op. Gotta love it

I worked a bit at my local coffee shop and ran into one of my favorite people ever – a long-time friend I call “nina” and who runs with me (when I’m not injured).