Pete the Perch

I keep thinking about an episode of Gilmore Girls that B and I watched recently where Lorelai goes fishing and then keeps the fish she catches in her bathtub. It made me think about spending summer weekends out at the lake with Niki and her family and the one time we went fishing. Which, like most things Niki and I did together, ended up being quite the comedy routine. We did catch a fish that was too small and had to be thrown back but not before we grew thouroughly attached and named the poor thing - Pete the Perch. I think.

Man we had a lot of fun. Making up card games like Sluff the Maid, playing real card games, eating yummy Baba baking, tube rides and boat rides and seadooing, being allowed a drink or two even though we were under age, and always always lots of laughter. And of course the incessant dicussions about the 10 boys I had a crush on that weekend, none of whom I had ever really talked to. But we had theories and schemes and jokes and more theories and we talked until we were blue in the face.

So many things have changed since those hazy lakeside days. But one constant is the amount that Niki and I can talk when we are together. Not always about boys these days but they still feature when it is warranted. There aren't many people I can talk to the way I talk to Niki - some people come close but they still don't get me to divulge quite everything on every topic. I can't think of anyone else that I could spend an afternoon with and then 2 hours on the phone in the evening and still have more to say. Of course these days the phone marathons are warranted because we don't talk every day ... It's just sort of hit me how much I miss her. We have secret plans about how we can arrange to live in the same city again. God willing they'll actually be feasible one day.