Enough About Me, Part II

Two more BooMama Who’s Who entries while Alex is napping (he’s being cooperative with the blogging today, isn’t he?).

3) Merritt – Merritt and I also met in junior high (junior high was good to me). She doesn’t seem to remember me at all from the 7th grade, but I remember her because she won Best Actress in the school play. She played a grandmother, if memory serves. Anyway, Merritt and I got to be much better friends in high school because we went to the same youth group, but we really became inseparable in college.

We pledged the same sorority, and we lived near each other, but the main component of our college friendship was that Merritt is hysterical. I don’t think she could brush her teeth without making me laugh. What was so fun for me in college was seeing everyone start to appreciate the parts of Merritt that people like Liz and I had loved for so long: the goofy dances, the crazy imitations, the silly songs. You might meet Merritt and initially think, “Oh, what a gentle soul,” and you’d be right, KIND OF, but the thing I think we all love most about her is that she is a SPITFIRE. She’s one of the most loyal people I know and one of the first people I would call on in a crisis. There’s such a sweet maternal side to her, and seeing how Merritt loved her babies is one of the main reasons I started to think about having a baby of my own. On top of all that, Merritt is beautiful, and that’s not just my subjective assessment; judges have confirmed it (she was selected as a beauty when we were at State). Even now her skin is incredible, so much so that it makes me a tad envious, because she has no visibile pores or wrinkles on her face. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous.

I can’t wait to tell her children about…1) the time I “highlighted” her hair and turned it a lovely shade of orange and 2) (they’ll actually get to see this on video) when their mama was leaving her wedding reception, running toward the car in all her post-nuptial excitement, hair perfectly coiffed atop her head, train of her dress blowing in the breeze, and BAM! she ran straight into a street sign. Cracks me up just thinking about it. The funniest part is that on the video, you can hear Merritt go “OH” at the shock of it all, but she never quit moving toward the car. Grace under pressure, as always.

4) Daph – Daph and I met our freshman year of college, but I honestly can’t remember exactly when. It was like I showed up in Starkville, saw her, and had known her forever. We were in the same sorority, and if any two people on earth have the exact same funny bone, it’s the two of us. We lived together for part of our sophomore year (until I had to move into the sorority house), and all I remember about it is that neither of us was particularly fond of doing our laundry, and we laughed all. the. time. I have no idea about what – but we would get so tickled that my sides would hurt the next day. We are both night owls, so we would be awake long after everyone else went to sleep, and we did some mighty good philosophizing in the wee hours of the morning. Just for the record, my mother thinks Daphne is the most beautiful girl on the planet. Even now, if I mention Daph’s name, Mama says, “OH! She is so pretty – you know I’ve always thought she was so pretty since the first time she came home with you – she has the most beautiful smile.”

Like so many of my friends, Daph is fiercely loyal, and woe be unto you if you hurt someone she loves, for you will be required to answer for your actions in the Court of Daphne. In fact, I don’t think the Delta Gammas were ever the same after Daph confronted them on some questionable Homecoming Queen campaigning practices. ;-) Daph has had a really successful career doing work that she loves, but I know deep down in my soul that one day she’s going to quit her office job altogether and write the book that she’s threatened to write for the last twenty years. She has this intricate little world inside her head – imagination for days – and at some point she’s got to share that with the rest of us. I love seeing how much Daph loves her husband (and vice versa) – they just adore each other, and her boys are so fortunate to have that kind of love modeled in front of them each and every day.

I can’t wait to tell her children about the time…we went to see the Indigo Girls in Jackson. We sang all the way over there, and once we got in the auditorium, we looked around a bit and said, “Gosh, there sure are a lot of women here.” After a few songs we looked at each other and said, “Gosh, why do you think there are so many women here? Some of them even look like they’re couples. Do you think???” We were puzzled, but we stayed all the way through the concert, enjoyed ourselves immensely, and didn’t think much more of the high percentage of females in attendance. Finally, when we got back out to Daph’s car and started the trek to Starkville, I thought about all the women we’d seen and I said, “Daph, do you think the Indigo Girls are…lesbians?” And to prove just how naive we were, Daph said, “Oh no, I don’t think that at all!” And we sang Indigo Girls songs the whole way home.