Thursday Thoughts - When it has to do with my life I wanna be the one in control

1. This is not the move you fucking dumbasses. Bunch of book banning burning fascists. p.s. Show Us Your Books is Tuesday.

2. Glorious beach walk Monday night, so weird to go without the dogs in the off-season. I love the ice on the pipes and pilings.

3. I sent them home in MFD so I could spend a few days working while visiting Kim and family in Vienna, VA. It's so nice to have the flexibility to work from everywhere and spend time with one of your bffs of 30+ years and her family. It really makes for a more rounded life. It was nice to share meals together. Kim and I did a HomeGoods errand, which we used to do in Marshalls in Levittown/Langhorne from the time we could drive ourselves to stores, looped in with a Drug Emporium trip. And Esteban, Kim and I watched the first few episodes of Tommy & Pam. Wild and hilarious. I left before the asscrack on the way down and am leaving at a much more palatable time to go home this morning, getting up early to flex work time instead.

We did games after dinner and Natalia taught me Loteria and we had some Go Fish action as well. She's smart and funny and I love seeing my friends' kids in their own environment.

Some food over the visit: steak salad and fried green tomatoes, mixed mashed sweet potatoes, glorious baked brie

4. I'm ahead on my shore outfitting for the year thanks to the HomeGoods trip. The best thing about going in places other than your usual geographic area is that they have different things. Excellent shore house shower curtain collection at this one. 10/10 recommend

5. We have reached the point in the season where my skin looks categorically awful, just dry and worn. I need to get through February without upending my regimen like I typically do, which throws my face into a tailspin. Already did that a bit with prescription tretinoin, and I'm going to sell that shit

6. I have not seen the Janet Jackson doc yet but I have been listening to a lot of Janet as the title implies. Who has seen it? 

7. Standard yearly reminder that Black History Month is every month, Black history is everyone's history, and that in addition to celebrating Black people we should be examining how much more difficult Black lives are made by systemic racism and every iteration of Jim Crow white people have dreamt up including the current mass incarceration one, question why in the fuck people wouldn't want the actual history of this country as it relates to Black people taught in schools (pretty sure you know the answer even if you don't want to say it out loud), buying Black, paying Black content creators, amplifying Black voices, and making sure there is equity. EVERY month.

8. Add this to one of the conditions in my optimal existence from yesterday

9. Reminder via doodlydays

10. This made me laugh.

Happy almost Friday!

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is of course Control by Janet Jackson - I forgot about this video

My Two Kims

Photo: luxmillionaire.com

Friendship is one of the greatest luxuries of life. 

                             -Edward Everett Hale

I am fortunate to have wonderful friends from all time periods in my life. But there's something about the friends you grew up with - who know things about you that you've forgotten about yourself, who have watched you react to situations for years, who have seen your face in triumph and despair, who don't need to be brought up to speed on your history because they were there living it with you - that ensures that you're always your truest self in their presence, because that's who they know you to be. They know everything you've been and done.They've seen you at your ugliest and they love you anyway. They've answered your 4 a.m. phone calls. It's a beautiful thing and I am so grateful to have such close friends from my formative years.

Too often we take our friendships for granted. Ask yourself, where would you be without them? When the rest of the world walks out, your friends are walking in.

Two of my best friends are named Kim. They were both born in June. They are both beautiful, kind, smart and funny in their own ways. We've known each other for over 20 years. We've been through the wash together. They are my family. They've taught me about friendship, life, and myself. Although we are all very different, in them I often catch glimpses of a second self.

It's lame of me to group them together just because their names are Kim and they're both June babies. When I am a full time writer I will rectify this oversight. We've had so many experiences together, I could write a book. And maybe I will.

My Kims are my cotton - they're woven into the fabric of my life. They are integral parts of my story. Although we don't live close anymore, and we don't often speak on the phone because we all hate talking on the phone, there isn't distance in our hearts. When we get together, we revert back to what we've always been together - friends who talk and talk and drink wine and talk and talk and pull shenanigans. And that's how it should be with your true people.

KVS is creative, introspective, independent. She loves to travel, has a weakness for jeans and dogs, is famous for her sangria and witch's brew, and together we survived an angry ocean incident in Puerto Rico. We saved our bucket of beer, too. She makes jewelry. She excels at karaoke.

Kim S is adventurous, goal-oriented, independent. She loves to shake her money maker on the dance floor, has a weakness for boots, and is a fellow cackler and Ocean City lover. She is a fan of the nap, the velour jumpsuit, the Flyers and the Eagles (that can be a sad and mad thing). She was my maid of honor and we email daily.

I know my two Kims will always be there, whenever, for whatever I need. They are my adolescent, college, and adult friends all rolled into one. They have lifetime seats in my front row.

I love you both and wish you the happiest birthday month!

xoxo