More kind of famous people I sort of know

Yesterday afternoon I was doing my most hated chore - the ironing. It is the bane of my existence. I refuse to even look at the ever growing pile of wrinkled clothes until it is taller than my youngest child. Once it reaches this height, I start working from the top and iron until the pile shrinks to about 8-12 inches tall and then I stop to take a rest. At this point, I run screaming out of the room my attention gets diverted from the few remaining items that need ironing and I set off to do something less futile and mind numbing else. There are probably items at the bottom of that basket that haven't seen the light of day in years. I should just clean it out & donate those bottom feeders to charity. At least then someone would get a chance to finally wear them.

Well honestly, what I really should do is just get my dryer fixed so that the clothes are actually dry when it stops running. About half of the time, my dryer stops working once everything is about 85% dry. It shuts itself down and the clothes sit in this giant, slightly damp pile for 15-20 minutes until I realize that I can no longer hear the dryer running. I hit the start button again, but by this point the damage has already been done. And this, my friends, is why I have such a crazy big pile of ironing to do. My dryer manages to set the deepest wrinkles I have ever seen into clothing that would normally never need to be pressed. But, I digress....

To make the time pass more quickly & help dull the pain of this dreaded task, I was watching a little HGTV. The show Designer's Challenge started up and about 30 seconds into the show, I heard a familiar voice. I looked up & there was my friend Chris -on TV! Holy Flashback! Chris & I worked together ages ago in Atlanta when I was a buyer. I haven't seen her in at least 6 years. She and her husband were on the show to have the great room in their beautiful lake home redecorated by a professional interior designer.

A flood of memories hit me when I saw her. I remembered that she was completely hilarious. She kept us all laughing even during the most stressful times at work (which were plentiful). I also remembered attending her wedding and shortly thereafter getting an invitation to the new home that she and her husband had just bought.

I was excited about the dinner because at the time Mr. Crackers & I didn't have any "couple" friends. We had a group of buddies who we hung out with, but they were mostly my single girl friends (I try not to take it personally that all of Mr. Cracker's male cohorts fled his side like rats on a sinking ship after we started dating seriously. Maybe it was just a coincidence that they all stopped returning his calls once they met me...). Mr. Crackers was a good sport about this, but I knew he needed a friendship that included a little more testosterone.

Anyway, I thought the evening was fraught with possibility. I had met Chris' husband several times & he was both funny and friendly. I thought that he and Mr. Crackers would get along swimmingly.

When we pulled up to their house, we noted right away that it was quite big, at least by the standards you'd expect of a couple in their 20's. It was in the suburbs, about a 35 minute drive north from our little bungalow in the city. We also noticed 2 new cars & a new boat in their driveway. It turns out that Chris' husband had gotten into the real estate market and was apparently doing very well for himself.

We collectively had one of those moments, where you get just a little bit jealous & start thinking "Hey, where's my boat? Where's my new car?" At the time, I was still driving my tampon mobile (see here) & Mr. Crackers was driving a car that had no radio or air conditioner. We loved our little house, but it was in an area euphemistically referred to as "in transition". We didn't necessarily live in the 'hood, but we lived right next door to it and were always expecting to get robbed on our way to the front door.

Still, we managed to rise above our envy and pettiness. I mean, if you can't have a boat yourself, the next best thing is a good friend with a boat. Right? Right?

Anyway, we headed inside for dinner and learned something important that evening. Just because you like two people & think they are funny, it does not guarantee that you will "click" as a couple. Nope, if memory serves it was an awkward dinner that never really got off the ground. It was filled with some lengthy silences and stiff smiles. After the meal, we thanked them for their hospitality and then beat a path back to the 'hood and our small cottage. I think we both knew that we wouldn't be getting another invitation.

Oh well, the years have passed and it looks like Chris and her husband still have a boat & a really, really big house (did I mention this one was on a lake?). The good news is that they were both also as nice and funny as I remember. It's nice that some things don't change.