The Belated Birthday Girl, I Mean Woman

One of my favorite people had a birthday last week. And being that she was relaxing on a tropical beach, ok sort of tropical Florida and I hear it was a little too rainy for lots of beach, but she got a tan and she was out of town, so we were unable to celebrate her birth on or near her actual birthday, so we celebrated tonight! We had a great time, margaritas were sipped or guzzled, babies were cooed over, children were entertained, Mexican cuisine was consumed, and we had a chance to celebrate Kristen. Cue excellent photo work from Joe...

Kristen and I met in 1996 at KU through a group of mutual friends. And for some reason we just didn't click at first. This lack of clicking, or mild dislike was probably based on lots of needless drama around men, and my eyeballing, on my first visit to her home, the large formal oil portrait of her in a fancy white dress hanging over the piano in her parent's music room, wherein I immediately thought, "Wow, seriously? Who is this princess?" My bad.  I now know that this portrait is something she's slightly embarrassed about and hides in her crawl space at home. Ask her about it next time you see her!


And though things started off a bit rocky, our friendship quickly gelled after sharing an apartment in Lawrence over the summer. A summer spent either soaking up the sun at the pool, talking on our tiny patio, complaining about our families, working on campus or relaxing at Dock Fuckow (just a dock at Clinton Lake that our group of friends frequented that summer, why did we call it this? I honestly can't remember.) Sharing stories of family drama, peppered with large quantities of wine and cheddar cheese can certainly bring women together. But back to Kristen.

Kristen is sharp. She has a sarcastic, dry wit. She knows herself well and is happy to tell you that. She has a mane of very curly brown, black, red, sometimes blondish hair, that when she straightens it makes her nearly unrecognizable, but lovely. She speaks her mind freely and clearly. She can talk about any subject, but careful if you wander into politics and didn't happen to support Hillary Clinton in the last election. She works hard. She's a great mom. She rides a motorcycle.  And god, does the woman read. Even more than me, and she has a four year old! How is this possible? She's one of those great friends who knows everything about me, good and bad, and still likes me. When she drinks, and she loves a good margarita, she gets chattier and sillier. And a sillier Kristen is always good. She can talk about makeup and hair crap or have an in depth discussion of the gender politics on college campuses, or the gender politics anywhere for that matter.  Her no-nonsense tough woman exterior is hiding a soft, sensitive girl, but don't tell her I told you. She might be pissed I called her a girl. So happy birthday, woman! I'm lucky to have you as a friend.