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My new friend Carol Ann

Have you ever met someone and the moment you did, you knew you'd be good friends? Well, Carol Ann and I met in a crowded aisle at Costco while I was fumbling over a super-sized shopping cart trying to remember the name of a guest from a recent cooking show, a well-known person whose name should not have escaped me, when RuthAnn and her friend, Carol Ann, joined the rest of us in the intersection.

I was there shopping with my friend, Holly, loading up with 15 heads of romaine lettuce, a dozen cans of mandarin oranges, a bag of frozen chicken, and other ingredients to pull off a Mandarin Chicken Salad meal to feed more than 50 women at our recent Visiting Teaching Conference.

Carol Ann and RuthAnn looked like super models, and I was in my unattractive ponytailed frumpy mode in workout clothes, sans my Victoria's Secret "secret embrace"Ü, and in a hurry to get home. Carol Ann remembered me from a brief drive-by viewing that she recently had in my driveway while our mutual friend dropped her son off for me to babysit while they played tennis. We all shared conversation while perched over our huge shopping carts.

Obstructing no less than four lanes of prime shopping aisles, I excitedly told the four women about the recipe I had just whipped up, of my sister Valerie's down-home cooking take on Chicken and Dumplings. It was so delicious and I couldn't believe how easy it was. And I wanted everyone who cooks to know about it for some reason as it was fresh on my mind.

Carol Ann and I ran into each other again a couple of days ago at a neighborhood party. She looked like the person I had seen recently at Costco but I couldn't remember her name. So I whispered across the room to Sherrie to confirm that this was RuthAnn's friend. Sherrie confirmed it was the same.

I went over to Carol Ann to say hi and asked her if she'd concocted the tasty Chicken and Dumplings recipe yet and she said she had not. RuthAnn had, but neither of us knew if it was successful. So we joked about how every time I will see her now, I'll be following up to ask if she's made my recipe, then she'll have to hide her face in shame until she does. She also admitted that when she first saw me that night at the party, she also thought I looked familiar, but couldn't pinpoint who I was. I'm glad it wasn't just me.

We easily talked about a few other trivial things and simply enjoyed the conversation. For some unknown reason, I gave her my blog address and she later actually read it. So, of course I'm going to like her! So much for the notion that nobody cares about my blog. I now have another reader besides my trusted handful of loyal friends and family. It's a strange thing, but it makes me happy.

Anyway, I look so forward to hanging out with my new friend Carol Ann and know we'll be great friends for a long time. One thing I loved to hear about her, and was astonished by, is that she has kept a journal every day of her life since 1976! Amazing! That is an accomplishment that very few people can say.

So Carol Ann, when you read my blog again, I challenge you to start your own blog. If anyone can keep it up, it would be you.

I'm pleased to report that Carol Ann has since made my Chicken and Dumplings recipe now too. However, she claims that she's made an already easy recipe, even easier. How can that be?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Kelly, you are a crack up! I hope to meet Carol Ann. She sounds fabulous :)
Kelly said…
There's a picture of her on my December 10 post, Summer!

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