HOLY SHITAKE MUSHROOMS WE’RE 30 YEAR OLD GRIGHS!!!!!

For those who don’t know Corrie… she’s been my best friend since we were 12 years old. 🙂

First of all, why we call each other Grigh. It’s something we’ve done for years and it’s very weird to most people… but uhm, we’re weird.

My mom and Aunt Karen used to refer to us as “The Grills.” We don’t know why, but nonetheless thought it was funny… in a mocking sort of way. So, we started calling each other grill. Somehow, over the years, we started growling the name towards each other.

Then college happened. She stayed in Kansas City and I moved to Indiana. AOL Instant Messenger was brand new on the scene and our long distance friendship took full advantage!  When instant messaging “Grill” as a growl sound it looks like this, “GRIGGGGH!” Somehow,  that eventually transitioned to simply “Grigh” without the growl. 🙂

Though, you better believe that we can still bust out a good “GRIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH” growl! We’ve been known to have full conversations growling back and forth.  Yeah, I know… you’re wishing you could be our friend too. 😉

When we call each other and leave messages we just say, “Hey grigh, it’s grigh…call me back.”

When I try and explain our friendship… it just makes us sound like nerds. Though blog readers, I promise you… we’re the coolest of the cool! 😉

 

Here she is with her husband Jeff in 2007. 🙂Pregnant with Zachary in May, 2008.Zachary Elliot  •  born July 5, 2007.Here’s her family in December, 2009. And guess what… she’s going to have a baby in two weeks and it’s a BABY GRIGH!!!!!!!

 

To my dearest friend Corrie, aka GRIGH,

It’s crazy to me to think that we’re officially grown ups. Grigh & grigh… THIRTY! Though, for the two of us, our years stopped moving in 1995. We will forever be 8th graders when we’re together.

There are very few (can count them on one hand) friends in my life who I would stop my world for. Corrie, you are one of those people.

When I was the weird eccentric kid who transferred to Eastgate Middle School in the middle of the school year… I wore ill-fitting garage sale clothes, was horribly awkward in gym class, had grossly frizzy hair and got poor grades. As you later found out, it was one of the hardest times in my life. Most adolescents who fit into that category are quiet and reserved. Nope… not me. I was loud and weird.  Bottom line, I was an enigma. No one wanted to be around me, be seen with me… let alone befriend me.

Until you.

You thought I was funny. And weird. And interesting.

You invited me to spend the night (where I froze to death on the floor under your ceiling fan that I tried so hard to reach). From then through the end of high school it was a rare site when people would see us without each other.

Like you, I’m an only child and have always been envious of my mom’s relationship with my Aunt Karen. It wasn’t until I made that book for my mom two years ago that I realized that our relationship is just like theirs.  Aunt Karen’s pages to my mom were full of inside jokes, bittersweet  memories, and vows of undying loyalty. You looked at me after reading it and said, “Karen’s story is my favorite… it reminds me of us!”

…an excerpt from a blog entry I wrote about you in 2007:

“Corrie loves when I tell her funny stories. Stories like the time I was babysitting my art teacher’s daughter and the cat wouldn’t stop puking so I followed the cat around with a paper plate all night because I didn’t know what to do. She knows my stories better than I do. We have our own language that annoys everyone around us. We don’t care… To us, we’re the funniest two people in the world! In the 9th grade, they canceled school for three days because of a snow storm. So, we ate fish sticks and played dress up in my mom’s box of clothes from the 80?s. We like to have parties… but we’re the only ones there and they usually only last for 10 seconds. We like to play the game “SORRY!” We LOVE to hang out at G-Moms house and eat cookie dough. She was an AMAAAAZING athlete (got “Athlete of the Year” all four years) and I went to every game to include the away games (I was voted “Most Spirited” my senior year because I was her biggest fan). In the 11th grade her asshole boyfriend broke up with her and we drove to St. Joe while I played her my favorite female empowerment songs (Our favorite song is still “Brass in Pocket”). That same year Jake Wood (AKA Jerk Wood) threw a Subway wrapper at my head and ALLLL of the “cool” seniors laughed at me.   Corrie was sitting with me when it happened. I mustered up all of the courage I had, picked up the wrapper off of the floor, and handed it back to Jake while stating, “I think this belongs to you… it somehow hit me in the head and I thought maybe you would want it back. Have a great day.” Corrie thought they were going to kick our ass after school. They didn’t, they were probably scared of us.”

I can’t tell you how genuinely excited I am that you’re having a baby grigh in just a couple of weeks. She’s guaranteed to think we’re hilarious. 🙂 I SO wish I could be there to meet her.

Corrie, I will forever be grateful for your friendship. YOU MY BEST FRIEND!!!!!!

LUS YOU GRI!!!!!

~grigh.

 

“Having a sister is like having a best friend you can’t get rid of.  You know whatever you do, they’ll still be there.”  ~Amy Li

May 28, 1999 • North Kansas City High School • Graduation day.

grigggggggh…..