Meet Kate the Great!

Sorry, I just couldn't resist that title.

In mid-July, Kate stopped over for a short visit (a visit unfortunately cut short by the need to go take care of unexpected mommy duties!), and during this visit we actually got a picture. Last time she visited was in February 2007.

Kate and I met in seventh grade, and spent most of junior high and high school, well, doing a lot of competing against each other! We also spent a tremendous amount of time together since we seemed to always be in the same math class together every year, amongst other things such as band, band, band, lunches, lunches, lunches, classes, and many get-togethers.

I will officially admit in this blog that Kate is solely responsible for me surviving the torturous pop quizzes in trigonometry called 'Openers.' Each time any Opener focused on a logic problem involving figuring out if the character described was a knight or a knave, I was left sitting there like an idiot. Kate sat behind me, and would whisper, "Knight" or "Knave". I would quickly jot the answer down on the piece of paper. And Kate was always right, too.

Yes, here it is, an admission that Miss Emily cheated in Trig class! And Kate was my accomplice! :) Every time I tell this story Mom gets such a laugh out of it because I was such a goody two-shoes. I was more afraid though, in this case, of the bad grade from missing the points on Openers than I was to let Kate tell me the answer. Thankfully, I haven't found the need in life to know how to solve these darned type of logic problems since trigonometry class. I wonder how my Trig teacher would feel if she knew this story?

This memory is so distinctive because the only other time in my life that I cheated was in fourth grade during one of those times table quizzes--I never could get my multiples of twelve straight!

As I mentioned in the first blog on Kate's visit, she was part of our 'group of eight' all through junior high and high school.

I loved seeing Kate this summer. And, you know, I love the 30's so far because we all do seem to be coming into ourselves in a way we never did before. Kate looked so healthy, happy, and confident. And she was, well, so authentically the Kate I remember. No pretenses. No pretending or trying to be anything else. Just being Kate. Kate is loud, boisterous, super-smart, and always knows the latest gossip. :) She's also one tough cookie, who has endured and triumphed in life. I guess it's just a joy to see how we've all bloomed from awkward young girls into, if I may say so myself, strong, beautiful women.

She walked right in the house, dealt gracefully with Asher's neuroticism, hugged my mom, and sat down to eat a sandwich from one of her favorite local restaurants. I love that feeling of comfort with old friends. It was as if she had just been here yesterday!

We were bummed that our visit was cut short, as her visits to town are few and far between. Mostly, though, I'm so grateful we have reconnected after several years of losing touch (and only keeping up on each other through mutual friends).

Maybe next time I will be able to see her kiddos too! And it's nice, I'll admit, to no longer be competing against her in math class or other areas! (She'd probably win anyways! :))

Knights and Knaves anyone?

Thanks for the great visit Kate!

Blessings,

Emily

Photo: Me and Kate on July 12th.