The Bi-annual Book Bitch and Lola visit

My Book Bitch and I at Bru Burger Bar for lunch

Book Bitch  and her husband came to visit me this week. I haven’t seen her in two years, almost two years exactly.  The last time I was single, a hot mess of love triangle, confusion, and depression, barely coping .   I took the kids up to the Fort Wayne Zoo and we met her family. The only boys were the kids and we had never met in person before.  Combining two sets of kids with no prior exposure to each other in the hot Indiana sun made for an interesting day, but we weathered it just fine.   Book Bitch  is one of  my online friends I met during my time on Reddit.    I met her right when I came into GWP and we have been friends ever since.  She watched me go through everything because she was “there” as it was happening.  She is incredibly wonderful. Well rounded, sarcastic, intelligent, well spoken, open to learning and discussing new  ideas and points of view,  and loyal. She gets it when it comes to online topics which is so very nice.  But she is more than just an online friend to me.

She is my blog advisor:  She helped me work through setting many a line in the sand in those early blog days. She understood how ridiculous it was that  there even needed to be a consideration for how to protect someones fake identity, she knew where my heart was without question and was able to play devil’s advocate for me, taking the  opposite point of view to help me challenge and vet out my POV’s.  She was there to listen to me rant, or cry or share a  tentative break through.

She is my cheerleader: When  someone at our ex-church, ( or one of my Facebook friends called and told my church) decided I was unfit to serve in the Pre-School room because I had the audacity to write a blog about mistakes; involving sex and porn; I made  in an open and forthright manner, she called  bullshit while I was crying that my entire being was under judgment by repressed, uptight,  Jesus freak hypocritical cowards who wouldn’t look me in the eye or come to me as open adult mature people owning their POV,  didn’t bother actually reading anything I wrote in any depth beyond a few clicks to notice it was about sex, I cussed, drank, and made  a general slew of bad decisions I was bold enough to,  gasp while they were clutching pearls and their granny panties were wadding in a bunch,  discuss openly. She  pointed out that my telling that story was a ministry in itself and provided some back up strength at a time when the hater level  clicking around here was at an all time high.  I don’t know that I’ve ever said this outright before but it can be difficult to Fearlessly Be Yourself while under  hostile attack.   I’m still here but mysteriously the haters have all moved on probably to finding other sinners to attempt to shame and censor.

She is my book and music  buddy, my pic a day cohort, my push up slacker companion.  I don’t get to see her often because she only comes to my state to visit family  every other year.  This year she had her hubby with her and they both came to visit for the day.  I took them to Mass Ave  for looking in the shops at eating at Bru Burger.

Book Bitch and Hubby

The three of us had a great day walking and eating and talking  non-stop. Bru Burger is fabulous and I can’t wait to go back with Babu.  He was stuck  dealing with a, I’m too sick to stay at camp but feeling just fine once you take me to the Doctor and pay the $20 co-pay Destroyer.   Why do my kids always decide to get sick or have a crisis when I’m traveling for work , have out-of-town guests or some other  inconvenient time?? Poor Babu always seems to be the one who has to leave work to get them because my plans or  my job is “more important”  or I am geographically removed from the immediate area.

We came home for the afternoon,  watched Super High Me ( it was meh, I thought he was funnier not stoned and while stoning it up just seemed like a zombie the whole time, it was boring.)  and then  the 4 of us headed to one of my favorite places to eat, Brugge Brasserie in  Broad Ripple.  I talked her into trying mussels for the first time, the boys talked IT, gaming, phones. We talked religion and  the differences in culture and people in our  disparate home states, enjoyed a windows down drive back home and then had to say goodbye way too soon.  I know I had a great day because by dinner my jaw hurt from laughing and smiling so much.  It’s a  happy injury, and the sign of a good time.

Metal Sculpture outside Brugge Brasserie

Chilie MOULES FRITES ( Mussles and Fries), Carbonnade Flamandeill ( beef Stew) , Chicken MITRAILLETTES covered in Frites, sauces

Happy and full at the end of dinner

As I was enjoying my day the difference in her last visit and this one was not lost on me. I am thinner ( with still so far to go), happier, my life is calmer, my mind is clearer. I’m certainly dealing with some stressful things right now, but it’s different this time,  she can see it and I can feel it. It was nice  of her to point it out, amazing what 24 months of time can do in your life.   I’m glad she is  still in my life. We may not communicate directly as much as we both would like but I know we have a standing  date every two years.   Is it 2014 yet?

Book Bitch and Lola, time to head to dinner