Awhile back, Ned showed me a picture of him at junior prom in high school. He had the same girlfriend throughout high school and even into college some, and she is still a good friend, so he basically has the same sitch with her I got going with my ex-boyfriend Cardinal.
Cardinal and I dated in 10th grade and broke up. In 11th grade I had a new boyfriend, which didn't sit well, so Cardinal swooped back in with his red feathers. Then for heaven only knows what reason, we decided hey! Let's try that again cause it was so much fun the first two times, and we dated from, say, age 19 to maybe 21 or so.
We've been friends ever since then other than when he got a wife and she decided I was the enemy so we didn't talk for years. (She's gone now. Sure do miss her.) There have been multiple times when we've both been single at the same time, including now, technically, but the Cardinal-and-me ship sailed in about 1986.
Which, by the way. If you have a problem with your current man being friends with his ex, ask yourself, Were there multiple opportunities for them to bang before I came along? And did they TAKE those opportunities? If not, WHAT IS THE PROBLEM??
At any rate, this is precisely what Ned has going on with his friend Harriet, whose real name I didn't just throw into the Random Name Generator or anything.
My POINT is, and do I ever ever ever just get to the point without eventually having to say, "My POINT is"? Ned showed me this photo of him with his old girlfriend, and oh they were so young and cute and so on, and then I looked at the back and it was dated May 14, 1982.
"I know exactly where I was on May 14, 1982!" I said, because I am a freak. "I even have PICTURES of me from that day!" That was my Aunt Mary's wedding day, and Cardinal was my date. I had this grand idea that I would put up here on this godforsaken blog the photos of Ned and Harriet and Cardinal and me all from the same day in 1982.
Brilliant!
So I get my Aunt Mary on the horn and ask her to scan me the photo I was imagining, but of course she was flummoxed about how to scan and email a picture and what's with the generational stuff re computers? She did, however, mail me the damn picture sooner than it will take for you to read this stupid post and I only just opened her letter last night. It's probably been sitting on my table for a week.
Good gravy I am sick of working all day and freelancing all night. Tonight I get my hair cut, then after I'm having coffee with one of my friends, and even though that COMPLETELY screws up my work schedule I don't even care.
Aunt Mary sent TWO pictures from that fateful day, and I was so excited to scan them and scream them off to Cardinal that I coulda spit. I also called Ned. "Send me that photo of you and Harriet. I finally got the one of Cardinal and me."
"My scanner's broken," said Ned.
Sighhhhhhhh.
It was all I could do not to drive the hell over there through the rain, in my pajamas, and bring the dang thing back home so I could SHOW YOU THESE DAMN PICTURES ALREADY. Sometimes my blog about my life turns INTO my life, and that is never good.
So, supposedly, Ned is scanning his fine prom picture at work, and TOMORROW I will have for you the famous shots of Ned/Harriet and June/Cardinal. But seeing as I have two pictures from that day, I will show you this one:
Oh. Kills me.
In case you were thinking, Wow, people in high school looked so much older then, those are my grandparents. You know, attending the wedding. As you do. My grandfather was the absolute bomb and you could not do better in the grandfather department. And there is Grammy, the woman I am turning into. Next time you see me I promise I will have a rose-colored dress on.
Does anyone remember the photos of these same grandparents on my 6th birthday? Cause Grammy had the purse-on-her-lap look then, too. She must've been horrified of snatchers. And this was before my city was even that dangerous.
Anyway.
The picture of Cardinal and me slays me, is what it does. Here it is again:
Look how unjaded by time and bad relationships I was. Grammy's over there thinking, "LOVE FADES!" but I had no clue. I just figured Cardinal and I would be happy for the rest of time. And that I'd always be that thin. And that stripy Izod belts would remain cool.
So there's your preview. Stay tuned for Ned Goes to Prom and June Continues to Look Naive photos.
