Happy Birthday, Kelly!
Wednesday, September 5, 2007 at 09:35AM I (very sadly) can't get my scanner working today, so we'll see how far google image can take this post.
Whether you are blood relative or random blog lurker, any level of acquaintance with Kelly quickly proves that she is one of a kind.
My own Kelly intro: Mr. Strong's 8th grade typing class. This was in the days of genuine, cumbersome typewriters. A girl who I recognized, but hardly knew invited me to adopt a typewriter. Yes, this was Kelly. My lovely construction paper replica typewriter came with adoption papers, stamped with an official guarantee from her very own typewriter ranch. Yes, only Kelly.
Since then, I've been privy to 20 years of "only Kelly" moments. Sharing some would disclose too much about both of us, so here my top 10 (of the shareable without undue embarrassment):
1. The typewriter adoption introduced our friendship, but it was sealed when we decided to take a night Japanese class together in 10th grade. Sensei had us doing fan dances in the halls, writing characters with our rear ends to help memorization, and falling in love with a culture so entirely foreign to our own. In summer school we came across this picture
and vowed to one day stand in this spot together (Sacred Bridge, Nikko, Japan). Two years later we did. The "only Kelly" part of this: I didn't happen to be there when it happened, but I think that somewhere in existence are some great pictures of her falling into a public fountain in Sapporro. Ne?
2. To ease our high school schedule, we took English 101 & 102 at the local community college during the summer before our senior year. A paper a week was due in 101. I worked laboriously over each one, poring over multiple drafts, editing, etc., before the final product. With Kel, it was a completely different story. She'd typically be writing (draftless!) the morning the paper was due. Sometimes she'd even lug a typewriter into the backseat to finish up on her way. And - of course! - she'd end up with the better grade.
3. During our junior year in high school, our Japanese teacher came to us with flyers for a National Speech Contest. Finalists were going to be flown to D.C. to compete at Georgetown University. Japanese neophytes, I remember first balking at the idea of this competition. But we decided to give it a try. We wrote speeches, translated with sensei's help, and sent our tapes off to D.C. A few weeks later I was stunned to receive a phone call saying I was chosen as a finalist. I was beyond excited, but it was definitely tainted by the fact that Kelly didn't receive the same phone call. But she was amazing in a way that I know I wouldn't have been had the positions been reversed. She sent me off to D.C. with a stack of letters, each marked for different occasions. "Day 1", "Day 2", "Day 3", "Read when you get nervous", "For when you are done", etc. I was sick with nerves until the contest was over, so her support was truly priceless. [Months later {after sharing with her my alcohol imbibing dreams} she was also at my house pouring out the Black Rat wine the hotel had given me after my win - did they know I was 16?!]
4. Tom Petty or Kent Dana? This was the first line of our made-up game that entertained us on countless occasions mid-high school to post-college. First, you come up with a question scenario. Who would you rather be stuck with in the trunk of a car? Who would you feel safer walking with in an alley in downtown Phoenix? Who would you rather take home to meet your parents? Who would you rather be stranded with on a desert island? The first options to choose between were always Tom Petty and Kent Dana. From there the names were changed until we came up with the ultimate person we'd like to be with in that situation.
So, who would you rather have make your birthday cake, Kel?
5. During our freshman year at BYU, we experienced a spring of lots & lots & lots of rain. Endless rain, it seemed. And endless worms spotted the sidewalk from DT to campus. Yuck. Being used to Arizona sunshine and having just endured one of the harshest winters Provo had experienced in quite some time, Kel was fed up. But she's not one to protest loudly...mostly holds it in. So instead of wild rants, she posted a sign on her dorm door that read: "Damn this rain, and damn this wasted day." The irony of this story is that Kelly is now the girl who loves living in the rain-ridden Portland. Perhaps their rain isn't plagued with worms so much. Or maybe she just spouts a whole lot of damn's.
6. Kelly is a magnet for weirdness. Details fail me, but there were countless phone calls to Chicago where I sat on the other end of the line gasping "what?!". And perhaps it helps that she has a talent for storytelling the ordinary into hilarity.
7. Because some Canadian swept Kelly away into marriage so quickly, none of us were able to be at her wedding. Initially resentful, I did quickly come to love Keith when I saw that they fit together so perfectly. I am still waiting, however, for you to share your "door dancing" with the love of your life, Kel. The man needs to see the moves.
8. Kel's was definitely born of two equally unique parents who I LOVE. Both are quirky & hospitable & hilarious. One BYU summer we roadtripped to Montana, and I fell in love with Bozeman. My favorite memory from their Mesa house was watching/helping her dad write an angry letter of resignation from his job (the type that releases a whole lot of angst but is truly never meant to be sent). That, and, of course, the timeles tune "The Prince's Panties".
9. Hours spent in the hallways of the JKHB adoring Beeman, eating super sour stars, all under the pretense of study. That was the beginning, of course. Later the hang out spot was ditching morning classes while enjoying cream filled donuts & chocolate milk at the Cougar Eat. Kel was always game for such deviance.
10. A few DT images: tied up with tape outside the elevator, eating baby food with pinkies, head and hands covered in green tape for hiding in Lorina's bed (I seriously wish I had a picture of this one).
Keeping in touch has become increasingly difficult over the years, so when Kel introduced me to blogging I was thrilled. It has been a joy to have my daily dose of her doings. And now that I'm teary writing this (is it only post baby bearing that memories do that?!), I guess I'll just say I love you, welcome to 33 & Happy Birthday!
Reader Comments (19)
1. Ne. I did fall right into that fountain in Sapporo -- chest first. I don't have photos of the actual fall, only the aftermath.
2. "Basically" I'm still the procrastinator I was then! I might google Maria and see where she is now.
3. That contest was your destiny, and I'm only glad it didn't turn you into a Black Rat aholic.
4. This is my favorite game! Kent Dana, for sure. Who knows what Tom would put in my cake.
5. I need another one of those signs for February. I think I have a picture of the original.
6. Yes, definitely a magnet for the weird.
7. No door dancing.
8. He liked butter, for it's color. He would order toast with color.
9. Perhaps one day we will meet and share a donut at the JKHB -- except I'm not sure I could eat one of those donuts any more. Yikes they were sweet.
10. I do have pictures of both the elevator tie-up with tape, and the green tape face in Lorina's bed. They are truly alarming photographs!
I love you muchly -- thanks for this sweet list!
love it!
Her dad really had you guys help him? And finishing up papers in the back seat. Impressive and hilarious. Happy Birthday to your sweet dear friend.
When she and my brother were engaged she stayed in my room and I had to sleep somewhere else. I was 13 (14?) and resentful. First she takes away my brother, and now my room. When I went back to my room after she left, she had left me a sweet thank-you note and told me how excited she was to be sisters. Resentment left, love entered.
I love you, Kelly.
I'm so glad Kelly has found such a true friend to carry her through a lifetime. Happy Birthday to Kelly.
So sorry to tell Annalisa that the JKHB is no more. And I heard that they are tearing down DT as well!