The Sheila Variations

Happy Birthday, Meredith

So my friend Jayne (and if you haven't read her blog, you really should) has a great post up, wishing her sister Meredith a happy birthday.

Meredith and I became friends in 8th grade (basically because of our contempt for a certain teacher who always wore a shirt with a stain on the back that looked like a semi-colon) - and she and I have been friends ever since. Through her, I became friends with her older sister Jayne.

Jayne acknowledges the beautiful Meredith in a post that brought tears to my eyes.

Here are my additional things about Meredith:

-- She pretty much single-handedly brought "punk" to our high school.

-- She got married in December (I cannot believe it was 14 years ago) - during a huge snowfall. It was a great wedding.

-- She supported my Grey Poupon habit.

-- I very well remember her playing the piano solo from Billy Joel's "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant"

-- She can recite the movie "What's Up, Doc" from beginning to end.

-- When I fall - she laughs. She loves it when people fall.

-- The summer after I graduated high school, I had a bit of a rough time for various reasons. Meredith would show up at my house, and say, "Get in. We're going to the beach." She made sure I got out of the house.

-- She was telling me once about a friend of hers who was always trying to analyze every little thing - every little gesture - every little subtext moment, and Meredith, exasperated, said to me, "I just see things - and I don't care!" We roared.

-- She used to walk out of the room when Jayne and I would start talking about Trixie Belden.

-- My first impression of her was in 8th grade - and it was 50s day - so she had on a white pleated skirt - and it was during gym class or something - I didn't know Mere that well - and she was in the outfield for a softball game, in her 1950s get-up, doing a Charleston-dance, out in the field. And I remember thinking, "God, she seems so confident ... so ... so ... breezy." BREEZY was the word. I told her this later, and we actually still reference it, in an amusing mocking way. "Well, Meredith, you know how breezy you are..."

-- In high school she introduced me to ELO, to Adam Ant, to the B-52s. Meredith was always very cool.

-- I have laughed with Meredith so hard that silence reigned between the two of us for 25 minutes at a time.

-- I know that whenever I go home I can call her up, and say, "Can I come over?" and she will be there.

Meredith. One of my forever people.

Happy birthday, friend!

Posted by sheila