"Nothing lovely is over and done with until the last person who remembers it forgets."

Well, I'm back.

Back from Melody's house, that is.  Back from eight glorious days with my best friend and one rather stressful night spent in a strange city due to flight delays.  Back from giggles and nonsense and serious late-night conversations and more strawberries than were good for me.  

I'm really not sure how to describe the visit, to be honest-- the picture above is worth a thousand words.    In fact, the thing that's coming to my mind at the moment is (surprise, surprise) a song lyric.  

It well may be that we will never meet again in this lifetime

[but I certainly hope it's not!!!]

So let me say before we part-- so much of me is made from what I learned from you

You'll be with me, like a handprint on my heart.

And now whatever way our stories end, I know you have re-written mine

By being my friend.

"So much of me is made of what I learned from you..." that's the bit that sticks out to me at the moment.  What did I learn on this trip? A lot.   

For starters, I learned...

... just how short eight days can be, especially when you've been anticipating them for about two hundred.

... how much fun it is to do mundane tasks when you're with your best friend.  Setting up a bed for yourself on her bedroom floor is the greatest thing ever, and drying dishes is the best pastime you could imagine.

...that no matter how self-conscious you may normally be about Causing Scenes in a Public Place, you will drop everything and run through an airport terminal to meet your Tween without caring what people think of your crazy, laughing, spinning, crying, tripping-over-luggage, absolutely swelliferous first hug.

... that little things will be the ones that stick in your memory the most.  Like the way Melody brought the pocket dolls I'd sent her last year to the airport with her to meet me, and how squealy and delighted I was when she pulled them out of the side pocket thingy in the car.  {side note: isn't her purse adorable?  That's what they're sitting on.}

... to be careful about laughing too loudly or appearing to be enjoying oneself too much when one is in an antique mall.  Otherwise the employee who comes to unlock the ladies' room for you might be prompted to mournfully observe that "you girls are having way too much fun."  Yes.  Yes, we are.  Is there a problem.

... that when two people are as close as Melody and I are, their minds tend to work in the same wondrous ways.  Which is why I should not have been surprised when we opened presents from each other and discovered that each had given the other a white teacup and saucer with pink roses on them.  They're not identical... but they're similar enough to give us a good laugh.  Plus the fact that we both thought of teacups, of all things we could have given... yep, it was amusing in the extreme.  (I love my teacup muchly, by the way.  I wish I'd gotten a picture of both of them together but alas, I forgot.)

... that burritos can be reheated nicely and tacos can't.  Therefore...

"Amy should eat her taco tonight and save the burrito for tomorrow since she doesn't want both at once."

"Wait, no, she's never had a burrito so she should have the burrito tonight."

"But the taco will get rubbery if it's reheated."  

"Okay, so she should eat the taco... wait, what about the burrito?  She'll probably like the burrito better."

"If she doesn't eat the burrito, someone else can eat it." 

"Why doesn't someone else just eat the taco?"

"What if she DOESN'T like the burrito?"

"Why doesn't she just eat the taco and cut off a bite or so of the burrito so she can see what it tastes like, and then if she doesn't like it someone else can eat it?"

(This was, in fact, the final outcome.  And I did like it.  But someone else ate it anyway because I'd already had the taco.)

... that the wake-up alarm on my cell phone is annoying to other people.

...that frightfully hot weather can keep one in a continual state of inelegance.

...that apple-carrot-ginger juice is really gross.  (Yes, Tween, I know you told me so. What can I say? I'm adventurous.) 

...that the danger of an open fire pit in the backyard can be minimized by the presence of a working hose and a glass of milk.

...that everything is funny when you've had too many shmoes.  ("They're called s'mores, Buzz.")
"You know what?  The wooden soldiers."

...that the best time to jump on the trampoline is when daylight dissolves into darkness... DARKNESS...

...that everything can be turned into a Phantom quote.  "Poooooor fool, he makes me laugh!"

...that when one is telling spooky (okay, not so spooky) stories around the campfire, there is no reason to jump and half-shriek when Melody's mom innocently opens the kitchen door and comes outside.  Because I was the one telling the story, therefore I should not have been scared.  Logic.

... that you are not supposed to say "go fish" when you're playing Authors.  Also, it is more important to collect all four Jane Austen cards than to actually win.

...that when you are playing ImaginIff, it's tremendous fun to put fictional characters' names into the mix if you don't have enough players to make all eight.  "If Mr. Collins were an annoying habit, what would he be?"

...that you can have fun at a water park even if it's only 85 degrees out and you're beginning to turn blue after getting dunked at the bottom of a slide.

.

..that you don't lay on mats to go down a slide.  You lie on them.  (Listen and learn, O Peoples Who Write Directions on Signs at Water Parks.)

...that the game Password is fiendishly hard but delightful nonetheless.

...that it is a Federal offense to record people's conversations without their knowledge.  (Okay, well, I already knew that one... but I was REMINDED of it.  And no, I wasn't the guilty party in this episode.  For once.  :P)

....that sleep is for the weak and caffeine is for the courageous.  You can sleep when you're dead.

...that Melody is really good at doing people's hair.

...that it makes them sound so much more sophisticated when you say "squares de lemoooooon" in a French-ish voice rather than just boring old "lemon squares."

...that when you make gingerbread for a party, you need to tell people ahead of time that it's gingerbread and not brownies so they don't bite into it thinking it's a brownie and then wonder why it's molasses-flavored.

...that if a trampoline MUST be in the way during an Old-Fashioned Elegance Tea, you can make the best of it by draping said trampoline with artificial flower garlands.

...that the best nicknames are the ones people don't know they have.  We are good at making up names for people, we are.  :D

...that it's really fun to whistle Blandois' little tune from Little Dorrit when you're in an echo-y place so you can (hopefully) scare the wits out of your Tween.  It doesn't always work but it's still fun.

...that if you're going to read aloud to each other by candlelight, you have to have fire extinguishers handy.  If the fire extinguishers come in the shapes of Dixie cups full of water from the bathroom sink, so be it.  (Stop laughing, Melody, your bedroom could have burned down if those candles had fallen over.  BURNED.  DOWN.   To the GROUND.)

...that it is quite easy to communicate with just a look when Melody is the person I'm communicating with.  A wink, a smirk, a raised eyebrow, whatever... if someone says something funny, all we have to do is glance at each other.

...that "if there's anything worse than a young girl making goo-goo eyes at a young boy, it's some old bat making a fool out of herself for some old geezer!"  (It's a quote, guys.  Now, if you know what it's from, you'll get imaginary squares de lemoooon.)

...that it is hard to write in a journal when you're on a twisty, bumpy dirt road.  (Thank you for pointing that out, my dear.)

...that mountain lakes are gorgeous, gorgeous things of gorgeousness.

...that you are never too old to write your name in the dust on your friend's car after you've traversed fourteen miles of twisty, bumpy dirt road.  (It says "Melody and Amy were here, 7/15/13," in case you couldn't make it out."

...that it's really hard to find cute matching pajamas for a good price at Walmart, but it IS possible.  (and no, there will be no pictures of Melody and me in our matching pajamas.  sorry.)

...that whoever invented subtitles for movies is a genius, because how else could you talk and giggle through every scene in Emma and still be able to follow what's going on? Well, unless you'd seen the movie 4 and 12 times respectively.  That helps too.

...that if you're going to jump on the trampoline at one o'clock in the morning (of the day you're supposed to go home), there is a slim chance that you might get locked out of the house.  Melody's dad (haha, first I typed "Mr. Melody'slastname" and then had to erase that...) came downstairs at one point to get a snack or something, noticed that the porch light was on, and came over to turn it off.  Then he must have gotten suspicious as to why it was on in the first place, so he poked his head out the door to see what was up.  We, of course, were lying flat on our stomachs on the trampoline stifling giggles.  He must have heard our muffled laughter, because he looked around, shook his head, left the light on and went back into the house without locking the door.  Thankfully.  Though we did have backup plans in case we DID get locked out for real.
"Let's dig a hole under the foundation of the house and get in from below!"
"Or we could just throw rocks at [Melody's brother's] window until he wakes up and lets us in."
"Or we could just spend the night on the trampoline."
"It's gonna get cold out here..."
"I don't think it's really locked."
"Yeah, we're good.  Let's bounce some more.  Quietly."
The door was not actually locked, though I did (unsuccessfully) try to convince Melody that it WAS since I reached it first when we were done bouncing.  But she's not so easily fooled.

...that "one AM, two AM, three!" are the best times of night (er, day) for baring your soul and telling your most appalling secrets.

...that there is a My Fair Lady quote for almost everything.  Aoooowwwwww.  (We didn't do that one enough, Tween.  I can only think of two instances.  Sad, that.)

...that Eliza Doolittle and Freddy Eynsford-Hill are the ideal roles to play if you ever get an opportunity to be in MFL.   I mean, seriously, you get to scream your head off and throw temper tantrums like a crazy person or run crazily around the stage and smack into fences like a complete dork.  What's not to love?

...that cute little tea shops are way. too. much. fun.  And Cherry Rose Festival tea is delicious.  And it's actually not bright yellow like it appears in the picture.  More of a transparent beige.

...that acting out the Haunted Wood scene from Anne of Green Gables while up in the mountains is tremendous fun, but it won't take long before your mothers figure out what you're doing ("well, you went off into the woods alone with a script and were giggling your heads off...") and are heartily amused by it.

...that the only way to eat an apple properly is to say "Really?" in a Katherine Brooke voice before taking your first big chompy bite.  Precede all following bites with quotes from other books and movies, if possible.  If not possible, just giggle and eat the apple normally.

...that "Winifred" rhymes with "empty head."  (Okay, now you get to name THAT quote.)

...that if you try too hard to make sense of a time-travel movie, your brain will hurt, so just watch the movie and sigh over the romantic parts and cry over the sad parts and eat strawberries and don't worry about logic.

...that if it hadn't been for Jane Austen, Melody and I never would have met.  We owe a lot to that woman, we do.

...that it is never a bad time to spontaneously break into Christine's part from the Final Lair.  "Pitiful creature of darkness, what kind of life have you known?  God give me courage to show you, you are not aloooooooooone!"  *loudly hums orchestra's part*

...that we ought to be thankful that Sarah Brightman's style of singing is so personalized, because we can recognize that it is she who is singing and promptly turn it off.

....that if you serve chocolate raspberry sticks at a party, they will get eaten much faster than you think.

...that parting is not sweet sorrow, it's just sorrow.

...that there comes a time when hiding in the closet so you don't have to go home ceases to be an option.  "I shall not leave... but shall hi-ide... over THERE."  (Seriously, if you get all these quotes, you are either Melody or a very smart person.  The two are not mutually exclusive.)

...that there is no shame in crying in a busy airport.

...that "no matter where our stories end, I know you have rewritten mine by being my friend."

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?

I do believe I have been changed for the better

And because I knew you

I have been changed for good.