forty-eight

Yup. That's how many I am. Not enough fingers, sorry. If I had enough, you can rest assured they'd all be official New Jersey salute fingers.

Yesterday my (only local) friend Jill treated me to a massage at her home - by her massage therapist - and then dinner in Princeton at a wonderful Chinese restaurant. Now don't get me wrong, hobbitt treats me like the empress I am every waking minute of every day but it's been a really long time since anyone else has treated me this royally. I'm not complaining - my friends are always very good to me - but this was above and beyond any expectations. I have the great honor of usually being on the giving end of such extravagances. And I sure did like receiving.

Jill and I are very different but share, among other things, an abiding affection for one another. She's daring and entrepreneurial and enthusiastic. I'm reticent and lazy and reserved. In a lot of ways we're both lost souls here on the edges of the Pines. So it was wonderful to be able to share a long period of time alone together to talk openly and without her young son Dylan taking all our attention (because he's a sweet loving 21-month-old, not because he's demanding). We weren't entirely alone, of course, because Dakota - at minus-ten weeks - was turning and kicking, but I don't think she was listening all that closely. Jill is enamored of Robert Downey Jr. and Johnny Depp. She's too young to know Yul Brynner.

She was born in 1971, my second year of high school. I guess technically I'm old enough to be her mother, but I cannot help but think of her as a peer, albeit a smidge younger. Perhaps it's time for me to get a grip, huh? Anyway, I know that she loves long hair on men, the Dead, and treating everyone fairly. I know she hates bees and is afraid of the spirits she sees and hears all the time in her house (and I've seen them too, so don't go thinking that her Deadhead ways have rotted her brain). She's a great cook but hates cooking. She has more ideas and interests than she'll ever be able to pursue. She's a fun-loving and gentle mother and her son's demeanor speaks volumes about his nurturing. She seems as tall as I am but is actually five full inches shorter. Like hobbitt, she takes up a lot of space but doesn't understand the power of her presence.

I'm honored that she considers me her friend. And the General's Chicken was pretty darned good, too.