Ode to Janet

I have this friend Janet. She lives far away now, but she didn't used to, and her whole life used to be different than it is now, and while we wish she was here, she's happy there, so that's that. And, she's brilliant. Seriously. She has a blog that is excellent but also password-protected, so, rather than publicly announcing her password, I am creating a small shrine here. You should know, Janet's life (and, therefore, writing) is probably not going to be endorsed by James Dobson and Focus on the Family, so if you are either a).easily offended, or b). a committed conservative, you might want to skip this post.

Ode to Janet and Her Incredible Talent Which She Hid From Everyone for so Long and Which is Not Hidden Anymore.(It sounds like the title of one of the original Winnie the Pooh stories: "In Which Janet's Talent is No Longer Hidden")

A poem first:

Monday Goodbyes

gasoline lip gloss
whole body hugging the steering wheel; fingers up near my face
smelled it on my hands and I smeared it 'cross my lips on the way to my nose
hazardous high, o reverie irreverant.
-----
Bryan Adams raspily bearing my very thoughts out of the open windows, flying with my hair
Oh when the feelin's right I'm gonna run all night -I'm gonna run to you
-----
Questions questions plans answers more questions
and the Eagles are singing honey, you can't hide your lyin' eyes
and how are things and let's do this around Christmas, too and 'but whose last name will the BABIES have, Janet, if you didn't take Nelson?' and -pierce your nose? what would Daniel say?- and you've lost weight, marriage is good to you and ohhhh, Janet, stopstopstop you're making me choke...you've always been the funniest

and goodbye
see you soon..
really. Let's do this again
Bear hugs and cheek kisses and the funniest goodbyes
and they couldn't even tell
and Carrie
carriewithherhandsinmyhair
and Paul Young is crying everytime you go away...you take a piece of me with you and oh, how we've always hated that song
and this gasoline lip gloss bites and burns and I shove my bangs off my hot forehead and cry the whole way home

(She wrote this about the last time she saw her friends, before she left for good. No one knew she was leaving. I probably love this poem because I KNOW those girls, and I know so well the dynamic she is describing ... so good).

And now, a question from one of those silly questionnaires:

Where did you grow up? Well, from August 1979 through, like, March 1980 - I drooled and pooped in Hanau, West Germany. I spent a couple of years learning to walk and talk and fall off of buildings in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and then moved on to Ft. Leonardwood, Missouri, where I attended pre-school, broke an arm, and did some major growing up. At the age of five, I moved to Mililani, Oahu, Hawaii and attended kindergarden - my best friend was Jennifer Beningo and she was Filipino and had a pet bunny. My cousin Melanie came to live with us at Christmas that year. Before I started first grade, we moved to Schoffield Barracks, Oahu, Hawaii - and I lived there until March, 1989. I fell in love, had a few best friends - but Stacy and Wayne were the best of both. Melanie moved back to Georgia after living with us for two or so years. Nasty custody battle plunked her in our home until it was over. March, 1989 landed me in Ft. Rucker, Alabama (way down south), and I lived there until the summer I turned 12. Casey and Veronica and Jamie and Amy and Laura and Amber and Angie were my best friends and Stephen (pronounced Steffan) was the love of my life. I got Shadow when I was ten, from the pound in Enterprise. He died when I was twenty-five. The summer I turned twelve, we moved from Ft. Rucker to the center of Alabama. My mother wanted to work in Montgomery and my father wanted to go to college at Auburn (he was in the Army for 21 years - didn't have a college degree yet). We ended up buying a house in between, in Eclectic. My mother ended up working in Wetumpka instead, and my father ended up graduating from Faulkner University in Montgomery. I attended all my high school years there and got grounded and went to prom and got in arguments with teachers and had falling outs with friends and relations, went to Disney World and Six Flags, found my bestfriend soulmate Carrie, served a detention or four, fell in love over and over and over again, read millions of books and attended Chrysalis, made lovely friends who still care about me, wrote many a sad poem and decided to be a journalist. I graduated from the high school there and went on to grow up a little bit more at Asbury College in Kentucky. Tiffany was my roommate, Rebecca was my suite mate and I still love them dearly. We worshipped Waffle House and IGA, drank honeylemon water and watched Schindler's List. I kept Tiffany's secrets and she kept mine, Rebecca threw trash in my bed but always let me be Radio Captain in her car. Carrie lived downstairs with Breasty Hall and I practically did, too. I had a weird affair, I got stalked, and Carrie was my Ranch Dressing Goddess that year. I camped in the spring of that year, 1998, and still (really) have blister scars on my heels. I only went for a year, but it grew me up a lot. I moved back to Alabama and Daniel and I grew up together for 7 years after that. I lived with Sharron and I lived with Wendy and I lived with Daniel and Chad and thank God for each and every one of them and the ways they helped me make it along. Now I'm here.


Didn't I tell you? Brilliant.