Handing over the keys to our SUV to the manager at the rental agency felt like a victory to me. 

I miraculously got the car back to the agency within the “grace period,” which meant I avoided one additional late penalty. I suppose I should’ve just been grateful for the win, but I remember all of the other late penalties were pretty enormous, and I felt like crying. (But that was to be expected in those days. Tears were always close to the surface for me that week.)

Lou had reserved a new rental car for me so I could rest up for five days with my best friend, Julie, in Tampa, and, so I could make one or two quick trips down to Sarasota to meet with a few of our wrinkle cream partners before I joined him again. 

So after all the paperwork was signed, I loaded up the new (compact) rental car with some of the odds and ends that I had carefully placed in the SUV at the start of The Imposition Tour. I spent a lot of time in that fancy SUV, and it really did feel like my home. 

But I was glad to say goodbye.

Lou (and most of our luggage) caught a flight to Dallas a few hours after his doctor’s appointment in Minnesota. When he got the news that his surgery wouldn’t be for another two weeks, it was obvious that we needed to give poor Dave and Judy a break. They had to have been so thrilled to have their home and lives back to themselves.

The kind of stress Lou and I were experiencing back then was palpable for anyone who knew us — but Dave and Judy were actually living this experience with us day by day. So it was clearly time for Lou and me to impose on family, and Lou’s sister was ready to have her brother — with his bloody schmeckel and all.

So with the car situation behind me, and Lou convalescing at his sister’s house in Big D, I could finally let my guard down a tiny bit. 

I’m a very blessed person to have several people in my life that I could call my best friend. I guess because I’m introverted and less outgoing than Lou, my collection of friends is very tight, but deeply connected to my heart. 

Julie, however, has the distinction of being pretty unique.

For starters, she is my very first best friend, and therefore, she is also my oldest friend with such a standing. I met Julie back in college. We had both just completed a grueling week of sorority rush, and it was our “bid day.” All of the girls in our new pledge class were assembled in the den of the Delta Gamma house, and we were each introducing ourselves to the group. 

I mostly remember how sweaty and confused I felt that day. Oh. And I had an enormous and painful stress zit on my forehead. (There are pictures packed away somewhere to prove that fact.) All of the other pledges looked fresh and flawless — but I felt awkward, unattractive, and like maybe there had been a mistake when they were tallying up the bids.

But then this really beautiful pledge — with dark hair and ice-blue eyes — cracked a dry joke, and no one but me got it! I probably laughed too loudly, but when she spotted me, she flashed her mega-watt smile, and I could see that she was more than just a pretty girl. She had substance. We became fast friends, and I’ve never stopped being dazzled by her beauty, or entertained by her witty, ironic, and dry sense of humor. 

I know that Julie will always be a part of my life — that’s just how much I love her.

So arriving at her house after that long drive from Tennessee felt just like coming home. Julie and I lived together in college, and so all of her little ways seem familiar and endearing to me. I know that most of my friends — including Julie — fear a visit from me. My darn cleaning standards stress out my loved ones, and I truly do hate that I make people feel worried.

(I don’t think my blog postings are going to help that situation very much…) 

But even the way Julie worries about how I take in her home is consistent and comforting to me. Any time I ever visit Julie, she guides me through her house in pretty much the same way:

“Sonj. That towel right there is clean; it’s just resting.”

“Use the little bathroom under the stairs — I just cleaned it with lemon-scented bleach! Oh. But the hand towel might be dirty. Use a paper towel in the kitchen just in case.”

“All of those clothes? In the laundry basket? I mean…the other laundry basket? Near the foot of my bed? They’re all clean. I think. (Sniff.) Yep. I’m going to fold them later.”

I love watching Julie fret about her belongings for my benefit because her hands are so cute, and her natural AD-D is very entertaining to witness. The way she blots her lipstick on a receipt — and then leaves it on her dresser — is as familiar to me as the back of my own hands.

Her home always feels like my home because that’s where my friend Julie lives. No matter how long I go without seeing her, Julie instantly gives me joy in my heart — and at that particular moment in time, I needed the kind of joy that only my sweet Julie could offer.

Once we lugged my suitcase upstairs — and, after Julie gave me the cleanliness status of every item in view — we decided to go out for pizza at our favorite place. Sitting across the table and gorging myself with the one friend who knows every single detail about my past and present felt cathartic. 

I could emote to Julie, and fill her in on all of the crazy twists and turns during the first leg of The Imposition Tour. It was just what I needed. She always laughed at the punch lines I tossed in, and she offered me a dose of authentic love and concern when I admitted to her that I wasn’t sure what was next for Lou and me. We had to wait until after his surgery to make any plans, and so I just didn’t know what to expect. Lou and I were in a strange holding pattern… 

And, I was very, very tired.

After we were too full to eat any more pizza, Julie and I bought some break-and-bake cookie dough, and headed back to her place. We ate most of the dough raw while she filled me in on her life, and then we baked two or three cookies “for later.” Then, we went up to her room, and crawled into her enormous bed. 

Back then Julie liked to fall asleep to Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Something about Kim’s silly voice lulled Julie to sleep and reminded her that “normal” is a subjective point of view. I remember nodding off when Kim was talking to her brother, Rob, about his new sock collection.

That was when I realized I was simply too tired to keep up, and so I drifted off into a blissfully deep sleep.