4 Years

4 years ago today, I spoke to Dawn for the first time. I knew who she was prior to April 13, 2005, but I had never talked to her. I saw her for the first time at a Wives Club Christmas Party at Fort Rucker in Alabama. I was less than a month from delivering my first baby. I was hot and irritable and fat. Had all of that not been enough to make me mad as hell, I was also missing my favorite show to be there. (My husband had "urged" me to attend.) I don't remember anyone else from the party.

A few months later, she called and left a message on my machine, asking me to come to someone's Mary Kay debut party. I went only because she asked me, and as it turned out, she didn't even attend. (Dawn always adds here in the story that I left there the newest Mary Kay rep in Lower Alabama. That's true. Laugh and I'll kick you in the shin.)

A few weeks after that, on April 13, I found myself at someone's baby shower. Again, I DID NOT want to be there. Again, I had been "urged." I had a 4 month old little boy, no friends and a serious case of low self-esteem. I had put on my cutest outfit and had William in his most unstained romper. I arrived late, of course. The only seat left was on the sofa, next to Dawn. Relief swept over me. She was a somewhat familiar face and voice and totally disarming. Her little girl Faith was 18 months old and leaning on her knees with a chicken tender in each hand. I was mush for that baby girl immediately. As the shower droned on, Dawn and I started exchanging polite conversation, mostly about the babies, as I recall. They were exactly the same size. Faith could walk and talk and eat chicken, and William was just a cuddly, drooly, sleepy chunk-a-baby. But they were the same height and weight.

When the shindig was over, Dawn and another girl left together. As I was changing William's nasty pants, I recognized that I was strangely jealous and I had to shake it off and chalk it up to my horrible postpartum depression. Dawn came back in. I was hoping that she was coming back to talk to me, to set up a play-date or something. (It occurs to me that I haven't told you what she had on. Remember that I and everyone else had on a pant suit or a dress. Dawn had on these crazy baggy capris that I later found out were Maternity Pants. She weighed about 130 lbs. She also had on a tattered and faded Philadelphia Fire Department sweatshirt. At the time I thought it was totally weird, if not inappropriate. Now I think it is ADORABLE!) She stood in the doorway between the den and the living room and announced, loudly that she was having a cook-out at her house on Saturday and that everyone was invited.

I was giddy.