frances cake, take 15: the it's a reunion! (and a baby!) edition

{frances and kate, together again!}

i would not use the word "dear" to describe very many things about high school (the pain! the horror!) but i would use it to describe kaiti, as she was one of my dearest friends then, and remains one to this day. (also, now she goes by the more grown-up kate, but old habits die hard.)

kaiti and i met in seventh grade through the magic of alphabetized lockers. we were pretty mad when b.j. johnson and eli jones separated us in eighth grade, but by then we were already more or less permanently bonded, thanks to big gulps and "reality bites." looking back, it might have seemed like sort of an odd pairing. kaiti was a cool, mellow artist who listened to nirvana and decorated her room in earth tones, and i was a slightly spastic journalism and choir nerd prone to absurd crushes and fits of uncontrollable giggles. but, it was easy to be myself around kaiti and feel ok about it because it seemed like kaiti was always herself and felt ok about it, and that sort of things catches.

back in the day, kaiti and i would often entertain the idea of moving to seattle and opening a bookstore/coffee shop where we would sell her art and my writing and talk philosophically all day long. and then, as the plan went, i would get married and have lots of babies, and kaiti would be the quirky single friend who would be my kids' "auntie" and come stay in our attic during the summer.

well, that is obviously not how things went down. actually, basically the opposite happened. kaiti got married and had adorable baby harry, and i am now his gift-bestowing, eccentric aunt, though i have managed to avoid attic-dwelling. so far. i have loved keeping in touch with kaiti through moves and missions (mine) and marriages and babies (hers) and seeing how life worked out so much differently, and, so far, so much better than we had ever planned. the only downside being that, with her back in michigan, and me in the wild, wild west, getting together has posed something of a challenge.

until!

a small miracle unfolded and kaiti and her little family came out this way for some skiing. except that instead of skiing, kaiti and i went out to lunch and caught up on people from high school (she remembers everyone's names. i am not so good) and made a delicious lemon and blueberry bundt cake.




plus i got to meet baby harry for the first time, and spoil him with a monster t-shirt and lots of hugs and kisses.







harry was pretty upset that he didn't get any cake, though.



and i am pretty upset that these favorite people are so far away. as soon as the attic is ready, i am totally there.

{and, check it. this is the 200th post on this blog! holy hannah. i feel like i need a celebrity guest or something. john krasinski, are you there?}