What a compliment!

Friday night I went to my friend Monique's house to celebrate her father's 80th birthday.  This is a family I love and hold dear to my heart.  I know Monique because she is my Comadre Debbie's sister.

Debbie and I met in a high school drama class; I was a Senior and she a Sophmore.  I liked Debbie immediately because she was so expressive and outgoing.  In a drama class those qualities are a plus.  Funny thing though, Debbie could be a total crack up one second and then totally shy the next; not unusual in actors.  I think the thing that linked us in as friends was one day while doing an excercise we were asked by the teacher, Squire Fridell, to stand and make a facial expression that matched whatever mood he called out.  In the middle of all the craziness Debbie looks at me and simply says "I stand on gum" meaning she had a piece of gum stuck to her shoe.  That was it, we were besides ourselves, dying of laughter, outta control, gonna wet my panties laughing. We had great times in that class but my being a few years ahead of her in school I graduated and, as life would have it, moved on to other things.  We lost touch.

Cut forward a few years and I'm out on my front lawn doing whatever it was I'd do out there.  We had a huge Chinese Elm tree that had enough shade for the entire family to sit under.  It covered the whole front yard.  During the Summer I'd go out and water the lawn just to see my tree.  And if that weren't reason enough to hang out, we lived on a main boulevard so there was always traffic going by.  People would honk and I'd wave even if I didn't recognize them.  I could make a whole day of watching the traffic while sitting under my tree reading.

So, I'm out front when who pulls up but Debbie.  She saw me outside and stopped by to say hello.  It was so good to see her.  We chatted for a while, caught up and promised we'd get together.  We didn't.

Maybe a year later, guess who drives by again....she stopped we chatted, caught up and promised we'd get together again.  We didn't.

Can you say "Third times a charm"?  Another day, another time I'm outside and guess who drives by?  We chat, catch up on things and then promise to get together but this time, I ask "when?".  My dad taught me that we can say just about anything to anyone, make any promise in the world but until someone takes the step to make it happen, it ain't gonna.   So, question being asked, we actually made a plan.  The rest is history.  We  started hanging out for what would turn out to be a very, very, very long time.  We became family.  I knew her's she knew mine.

This Friday night I took Karina with me to the party.  The other kids are gone, JC is in Costa Rica so I sure wasn't gonna leave Karina home alone, besides, this is her Nina's daddy's birthday.  We ended up gathering in the kitchen, as all good gatherings do, and go from one subject to the next.  Inevitably we end up talking about our Salsa days, our fun times, dumb times, tipsy times, parties, well, you name it we talk about it.  Meanwhile Karina sits in a chair listening quietly.  I keep saying to her, don't worry honey, we'll go home soon, even though she doesn't complain, not once.

The last guests still at the house, we decide it's time to hit the trail.  We get in the car and start the 10 minute drive home when Karina says "Mom, have I ever told you that I really like you guys?".  I'm caught off guard and not sure what she's trying to tell me so she expounds, saying she had such a great time just sitting there listening to us talk about everything, not just the dancing part, everything.  She says she wishes it was "still like that" and that she would have hung out with us if we were her age.  She says people arent' the same as you guys were.  You just had plain, clean fun.

My daughter compliments me on my looks, my choice of clothing, my shoes, my music and even my company but it was the way she said it that made me feel the warm and fuzzies. It's a cool feeling to know that your daughter likes you enough, she actually wants to hang out with you.  I don't think a mother can ask for a better compliment than that.  Thank you Karina.  I like hanging out with you too.