Friends, Pals, Partners in Crime...

I guess it was about 19 years ago when I first met Joyce. I was new in town and would take the local express bus up to San Francisco to work every day. I noticed that she was always on the bus in the morning before me (I was the third stop on the route), and she always got off one stop before mine in the City. In the evenings, I'd see her get on a few stops after mine, and she got off one stop before me.

One evening, I was out walking my little Yorkie, Spike, and I saw Joyce walking toward me with a pizza in her hands. As I got closer, I smiled and said "What time do we eat?!" Joyce looked at me like I was nuts and just continued walking. I just stood there fore a minute, looking down at Spikey and saying to him, geez, she didn't even stop and give you a second look and you're way cuter than me... My new mission from that point on: make friends with this pizza carrying, bus riding woman.

The next week, I made it a point to sit next to her on the bus and chat with her. I did it in the mornings and, I even went to a different stop in the evenings so I could get on the bus after her and sit next to her. Yep. I was quite the little pest. But at least by the end of the week I had learned her name.

One Friday evening, I asked Joyce if she had plans for the weekend (just trying to make polite conversation). She said that she was probably going to go shopping on Saturday. "Great!" I responded, "how about some company?" I saw that same shocked look that I saw the night she was carrying her pizza home. But, she agreed to have me join her and that Saturday, a true and lasting friendship was born.

We've done all sorts of things together over the years, including traveling, craft fairs, scrapbooking excursions, breakfasts - you name it, we've probably done it. We're not just friends - we call ourselves 'partners in crime.'

Last night, I gave Joyce a call. The conversation was really short:

K: "Hey"

J: "Hey"

K: "You wanna go on a field trip tomorrow?"
J: "Yeah. What did you have in mind?"

K: "How about a 2-hour ride up to Rockin to go to Green Tangerines?"

J: "What time are you picking me up?"

And today, we drove 2 hours to visit the coolest scrapbooking store I've ever seen - Green Tangerines. We made it worth our while - we actually spent just over 2 hours in the store browsing, matching papers and pictures, picking out embellishments, ooohing and aaaahing... Of course, we were exhausted and starving by the time we got our bags filled with terrific goodies, so a stop at a local restaurant was in order. Food was just the remedy we needed to make the long drive home.

On the drive home, the fun continued with lots of laughing, giggling and chatting about our adventure. I dropped off Joyce and her goodies around 8:30 tonight; now, it's just before 10:30 and I'm pooped! Aero, on the other hand, is quite wound up because he's been sleeping all day and now he wants to play. One more quick run in the yard and it's lights out, buddy - mom's tired!

I think every body needs a good partner in crime....

Until next time,

Kel