And I hope it did her a world of good!
It did. It seriously, truly did. Her mom told me afterwards that she talked about it for the next year; that night was one of the highlights of her life up to that point (bookish tomboy with vaguely Goth leanings + sun-drenched, sports-culture-driven cow town = ostracism, bullying, and beatings).
That night with a tableful of grownups with much bigger freak flags than her own, all of whom were perfectly at ease with letting them fly, meant more to her than we could have guessed (we'd had no idea; we just thought she was the coolest kid we'd met in forever, so she needed to be at the cool folks' table).
nobody was at a table with a bunch of complete strangers (except my wee cousin who really needed to get away from her family and who really needed to spend an evening in the company of Jilli), we tried to spread the extroverts around to facilitate conversation at any table that looked like it might possibly lag, and we used the questionnaires to write up equally random and ridiculous conversation starters for each table:
Which is how I wound up at a table with Phil and Kim, as I recall. (I think we were the Rowdy and LOUD table or something.)
FCM: Fred Flintstone, George Jetson, Shaggy (from Scooby Doo)
It did. It seriously, truly did. Her mom told me afterwards that she talked about it for the next year; that night was one of the highlights of her life up to that point (bookish tomboy with vaguely Goth leanings + sun-drenched, sports-culture-driven cow town = ostracism, bullying, and beatings).
Oh good heavens. I didn't realize it had made that much of an impact on her. She was darling.
You know, I think the only wedding I've been to where I didn't know most of the people at my table at the reception is ALSO the only wedding I've been to where I brought a plus-one! Who was actually a female friend, because she knew the bride, too, but they weren't as close (I checked with the bride to make sure it was OK to bring her). We couldn't figure out the theory with the seating, because there were other people there we knew, but maybe it was literally about keeping me away from this one guy I used to date. (This was the year after we graduated from college, so pretty close to teen age drama!)
Paul and I were Lee's entourage at Sparky's wedding. We had nametags that said it and everything. Though I think that was at the gathering the night before the wedding.
Note to self: do not cancel some random fucked up print job belonging to someone else when standing in front of IT director's office. It's a legit thing to do (that job was never going to print!) but it is probably bad form....
Oh good heavens. I didn't realize it had made that much of an impact on her. She was darling.
She actually homeschooled her last semester and then took the GED, she was so desperate to get away from her high school (she's still living in Sacramento, but the culture at her college is a lot broader and she's found her tribe -- she probably won't live there long after graduation, but for now she's pretty happy).
eta: And she still treasures the business card you gave her.
(Also, her personal style has shifted from nondescript boyish dark clothing to full Technicolor Tokyo Pop; we saw a very, very toned-down version on Easter, and it was flappy-hand and wordless-geeble-inducingly adorable and weirdly lovely.)
It was here that the lost cellphone discussion was, wasn't it? Nicole pointed out the idea of an I.C.E. contact in Bitches--In Case of Emergency. Apparently it's well-spread in Britain. Would also work as somewhere to get the phone back to, in case of loss.
Oy. Why must specialists be so damned special? I'd really like him to get back to me sometime today.
And I'd really like something to suddenly be the perfect not too sweet, not too sour drink. I need my homemade lemonade, except I'm not at home, and even there, I've not made any. All the stuff out here, in the world, is all off.
Timelies all!
Bleah, I'm a bit congested and my throat hurts. I hope it's not con crud...
