Salt of the Earth

My birthday was on Saturday. I have to say it was one of the BEST birthday’s I’ve ever had. The whole day was absolutely amazing. I woke up early- without the alarm. Which is always so satisfying. I started cleaning a bit since we were going to have company over later. Mick got up and vacuumed for me- very nice. The sun was out and it was so warm and BEAUTIFUL. ahhhhh We dropped Thomas off at a birthday party and then Mick, Graham and I headed out to Hawthorne for lunch. After some good Hot Lips pizza Mick dropped me off at my very favorite yarn store to spend some of my birthday money. (thanks mom, tom and dad!) There is just something about yarn that makes me happy. I got some alpaca and new knitting needles and a book on socks and met Graham and Mick so we could venture off to Ben and Jerry’s for some yummy ice cream. (took a day off from South Beach). After yummy ice cream we went to Ja Civas to pick out a cake. Several years ago Mick ordered a poppy seed, raspberry torte for me from there. mmmmm I picked out a very berry white cake (cream cheese and berries in between the layers). We then headed home and soon after I picked up Thomas from his party and then we all headed out to Macaroni Grill for dinner. We invited some of my friends and they all showed up bearing gifts and birthday wishes. It was awesome. After dinner we all headed home to have cake and play Guitar Hero. The last of my company left around 11 pm. It was a really good time.
Not to mention, i got some really sweet gifts too.
-A weaving loom
-Camera
-Money
-Michaels Gift card
-Sock Monkey socks
-Burts Bee’s kit
-Journal and nice pen
-pottery bowl
-heart shaped mouse that beats

I forgot to mention that when I came home from dinner I had several phone messages from family and friends who called to wish me a happy birthday. And that it was!

I work early tomorrow so I am off to bed
T

Today I found out that a friend of mine overdosed on heroin. She left behind two little girls who are now being raised by her mother. It’s sad really. I’ve been on the phone this afternoon with another friend of ours- just reminicing about our friend Val. I can’t really say that I am shocked by the news. I’m just sad that she went down that sad road that led to her death. It’s hard for me to really imagine her being dead- when mostly what i have in my mind are memories of her being alive. She hasn’t been a part of my life for many, many years but she was a part of my ‘wild’ years. And boy did we have fun. I met her in 9th grade right after we moved to Saudi Arabia. She and her parents were on vacation when I first moved there but the stories of her were legend. If you wanted to party- Val was your gal. She smoked cigarretts, she drank sidiki and she had an older, arab boyfriend with a car. She always picked the wrong boy friends but loved them with her whole heart. She had a good heart. I beleive she took that with her when she died. We spent our 9th grade year hanging out at the ball field, crusing, and partying whenever we could. My mom didn’t like Val- she knew she was trouble and she knew the road Val was traveling on and that I was in the passengers seat screaming ‘hell yeah’ the entire way. I was rebeling. I was 14 and pissed off at the whole world. Well, just my parents really. But that was enough and that’s what fueled my fire to party hard and not look back. 9th grade was also a time when my mom’s depression kicked into full gear and she was also hospitalized several times because of her back. My sister was going to school in Cypress and I was still pissed off at Tom for marrying my mom and dragging us into this ‘better’ life. So most of the time I felt I was on my own and justitified to be self desctructive. I didn’t make good choices but I survived the bad ones. I wouldn’t say Val was a bad one- she was just one. I remember spending the night at her house and drinking her parents booze and sneaking out to meet our boyfriends. I don’t know if her parents knew- and if they did- i don’t know that they cared. I’m sure they thought the same of me as my parents did of Val. But I didn’t care. We spent countless hours on the beech and as few hours doing home work. Our 9th grade trip was to Hong Kong/China. We snuck out a few times after curfew and drank a lot of gin. She changed after that trip- or maybe i did. She wanted to go down a faster road- I was perfectly happy with the one I was on. After we got back we still hung out but not as much. I think it was spring of that year when she and her mom were fighting and her mom told her that her dad wasn’t her real dad. This devistated Val and she ate rat poison in attempt to kill herself. We took french fries to the hospital during visiting hours. It was sad. At the end of the year we all went our separate ways to different countries for boarding school. We’d keep in touch and meet back up in Saudi for vacations (3 times a year). We’d party together some- but she had moved on to drugs which is something that has always scared me. One of her last times back to Saudi was Christmas of my senior year. I remember meeting up with her at the snack bar. All the chairs at the table were filled so she squated next to me and talked to me for the longest time. She told me about her boyfriend and the colleges she was applying to. She had on jeans and a white shirt and she smoked Marboro Menthols. She had just gotten a perm and her hair was curly and it really suited her. That was the last time i saw her. I heard from her right after I got married. She was living with this guy and it was a very rocky relationship. We talked about the ‘old’ days and she said she was really happy then. That life was simple. I laughed. She congradulated me on my marriage and we made ‘plans’ to meet up in California some day. Prior to finding out about her death- i hadn’t really thought about Val in the last few years. I always wondered and hoped she was doing well. I guess she was just doing.
RIP Valerie

T