The Shill's Visit

So, I've just seen the Shill off to the airport, loaded down with a big breakfast and the cutest little cowgirl-fabric covered makeup bag you've ever seen. It was great to see her. Here's something that strikes me, though--seeing this person that I've known since college--which runs contrary to every lesson of our commercial culture: people get more interesting as they get older, more beautiful, more self-confident, more everything... I don't know. It's one of those things. You spend so much of your young life believing that 30 is the start of the end of things. Then you get to 30 and you realize that it's just the beginning. Now, you start to come into your own. Now, you know the things you need and how to get them. I'm lucky to have very good friends. I wonder what the Shill will be like at 40 or 50 or 60 and I hope I have the good fortune of being around to see. So, youngsters, the point of this digression is that it's actually really cool to get older. People get more interesting. Yes, being young and thin and pretty is the "best" thing you can be, but the consolation prize is a lot better. Anyway, we did a lot of stuff, much of it was great fun, but probably boring to read about if you don't know any of the players. So, I'll spare you for now. But here is one extraordinary thing: The Shill ran the Music City half-marathon. It started like this: her husband, the cantankerous Legal Eagle gave her this trip to Nashville as a birthday present. Coincidently, it was the same weekend as the marathon. When she discovered this, it was too late to register on line, so she tried to call and register, but they wouldn't let her register over the phone. So, she asked me to go and register for her. I was like, "Shill, they're going to take one look at me and know I could never run 11 miles." "Dear, it's 13." "Well, then especially fuck that. Eleven I might have been able to do, but thirteen is out of the question." Then, my co-workers called me a "fucking girl scout." We got it all straightened out and on Saturday morning she ran the half marathon in two hours and five minutes. It's amazing. I couldn't have run 13 miles in two days.