Freckles and Friends
Last Wednesday I soaked up holiday festivities at my friend Elena’s place, in the company of good food and good friends new and old. Somewhere between my multiple attacks on the platter of s’more Rice Krispy treats, I overheard Elena’s short, spunky and new-to-the-area friend Erika talking about buying alcohol in the Lehigh Valley.
“I just don’t get it; I never get carded when I’m at the liquor stores around here.”
Neither do I, but I always figured it was because the state’s regulations on selling booze make buying it so completing-the-Bowser’s-Castle-course-on-Mario-Kart difficult that just showing up to the right store at the right time deemed me booze-worthy.
Then the mom of another party go-er piped up. “You know why you both don’t get carded, don’t you? It’s because freckles are trustworthy.”
Both Erika and I are spotted and dotted all over, me to the max with some of my freckles starting to freakishly merge together thanks to long runs in the sun. I hadn’t ever associated my ‘skin sparkles’ with trustworthiness though; if anything I thought they represented my spunk, sass, and mischief.
Looking around at the party people in Elena’s so-beautiful-I’m-jealous kitchen, it was hard not to think more about trustworthiness—and not just in the immediate sense of the word. I wouldn’t have been invited to this soirée a year or so ago, but here I was splitting s’more Rice Krispy treats with some of my best buddies, not just in Pennsylvania, but in the history of my freckled skin.
I’m so glad I’ve found Jill and Elena, two non-freckled friends who I trust to not only keep details I spill at a girl’s night in confidence, but to challenge me on my decisions so I can walk through life confidently, support me in my important endeavors and stand up to me when it's needed. Here’s to future nights of tasty treats, semi-illegally purchased wine and the kind of endless chatter that keeps me sane.
“I just don’t get it; I never get carded when I’m at the liquor stores around here.”
Neither do I, but I always figured it was because the state’s regulations on selling booze make buying it so completing-the-Bowser’s-Castle-course-on-Mario-Kart difficult that just showing up to the right store at the right time deemed me booze-worthy.
Then the mom of another party go-er piped up. “You know why you both don’t get carded, don’t you? It’s because freckles are trustworthy.”
Both Erika and I are spotted and dotted all over, me to the max with some of my freckles starting to freakishly merge together thanks to long runs in the sun. I hadn’t ever associated my ‘skin sparkles’ with trustworthiness though; if anything I thought they represented my spunk, sass, and mischief.
Looking around at the party people in Elena’s so-beautiful-I’m-jealous kitchen, it was hard not to think more about trustworthiness—and not just in the immediate sense of the word. I wouldn’t have been invited to this soirée a year or so ago, but here I was splitting s’more Rice Krispy treats with some of my best buddies, not just in Pennsylvania, but in the history of my freckled skin.
I’m so glad I’ve found Jill and Elena, two non-freckled friends who I trust to not only keep details I spill at a girl’s night in confidence, but to challenge me on my decisions so I can walk through life confidently, support me in my important endeavors and stand up to me when it's needed. Here’s to future nights of tasty treats, semi-illegally purchased wine and the kind of endless chatter that keeps me sane.
