...before I go...
Happy Birthday to my friend, Janice, and Happy Birthday to my friend, Sheila.
I'm sitting here trying to decide just how much time I have to write about either of them (and it's not much)...they are friends who came into my life at vastly different times, and what has suddenly occurred to me is the incredible determination each one of them possesses.
And so, since time is limited, I will share one memory of Sheila...
This was back when she and my sister and our friend Dolores and I were making our "The Troubled Days and Nights of Husbands, Wives, Lovers and Children in Hope and Despair" movie. Production took place on two or three weekends - spread out over a couple of months - we had to time it so we were all back in town at the same time.
Anyway, it was winter. And we had a day of filming (videotaping, really) planned, at my parents' house. So my sister, Meredith, and I were already there, video camera and VCR rented (so yes, this is a while back), and Dolores was probably already there, since she didn't have far to come...and we were just waiting for Sheila to arrive, by bus, from a town or two away.
We waited, and waited...impatiently, I'm sure, because we probably only had the "equipment" rented for the day, and my parents had very likely been kicked out of the house for the day as well, so time was both limited and precious...and where was Sheila???
My sister called Sheila's parents' house...no one was home. Okaaaaayyy...so...she should have been here by now.
I don't remember how long the wait was. But we were sitting in my parents' kitchen, and suddenly, trudging through the snow, walkman on and (Irish) cheeks bright red with the cold, wearing her high tops, which must have been soaked by that point, came Sheila.
The bus never came. So she walked. I just looked it up...it was 4.4 miles. In the snow...(this sounds like something that would start out "in my day, we didn't drive to our friends' houses to make insane movies, we walked there! Through the snow! Wearing no hat! And no boots - just high top canvas sneakers!")
She could have called - one of us could have come to get her.... I don't remember why she didn't. I think it might not have even occurred to her, at least not right away. I think it was probably more like after waiting and waiting for a bus that didn't come, she said "fine, I don't need the bus - I can get there under my own steam" - and so she did.
...of course, as I'm writing that, other little stories come to mind...but - it's almost 6:00 and I really have to go become productive before the afternoon arrives and the turkey is still shivering, naked, in my fridge.
So Happy Birthday, Sheila, and Happy Birthday, Janice!!
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