My friends, chapter 7 : Heather

It is a very American thing to be constantly obsessed with your own betterment. Self-help and how much space it takes up at Barnes and Noble attests to this. It is rare, even in America, however, to find a person who really does take pains to improve in real life. This is Heather. She is a "Make It Happen" kind of girl. She dives readily and deeply. She lives like tomorrow might not come but she plans like there are enough tomorrows to fill up two lifetimes. I admire her so much.
I met Heather one summer Sunday in Austin about three years ago. We were at church. I introduced myself and before we knew it we were laughing a lot for reasons I can't quite remember. She was in Austin for an internship at Dell. She was an MBA student at BYU. We got to know each other pretty fast. We had dinner parties and went swimming and talked a lot about the perplexities of life. It was a fun summer. I'll never forget the project we worked on for a Dell competition among the interns. The task was to create a recruiting video for prospective interns. Heather enlisted my help right away. Doing little else than sitting by the pool reading, I was eager to assist in a creative project. So I began brainstorming. I felt like a mocumentary was ideal. I wrote some really funny stuff but the real magic happened right on film. It started with a monologue by me. I was pretending to do something important on my computer in my cubicle, all staged obviously as I don't work at Dell, and then I suddenly turn around and engage my audience with, "Oh! Hello! I am Kristin Ferrell. You may remember me from my acclaimed documentary Up Your Gas, a discussion on energy supplements." We went on from there interviewing people without any preparation, asking them silly questions like, "iphone. Your thoughts?" and, "Where do you see Dell in five years?" as I play with the very handsome intern's hair in a flirty manner and then ask him, "Do you like poetry?" He said no. So inappropriate. So great. Quick transition to me doing yoga in the courtyard, holding a pose, falling. We decided to interview a young, white male on the topic of diversity. I called him Rob, even though his name was Matt. I made him hold a little, blue flag that said "Dell! Diversity Champions!" SO funny. Anyway, great little film, I must say. I'll try and post it if I can manage it.
Since then, Heather and I have had many adventures. She is a great hostess and has thrown some really lovely parties and had many wonderful gatherings. I live in her home now and it is so peaceful and wonderful here. Beyond the beauty, the intelligence, and the adventurous spirit she is genuinely good. Her goodness makes me feel happy and safe. She is still making stuff happen: eating clean, which we're doing together (it's a lifestyle, not a diet), making improvements on her house, doing yoga, shaking things up at Dell, and all the while finding time to be a great friend, a patient listener, and just a fun person to hang out with. I am excited about Heather's future and I am just grateful to be here seeing it unfold. Heather, thank you for inspiring me. I love you.

My friends, chapter 6 : Bobby

When it comes to making my ribs ache from long, loud laughter, nobody does it like Bobby. Bobby is the best! He delivers the perfect combination of serious love and attention and silly nonsensical joy. It's quite a thing. How he balances the potent levels of serious concern and loyal friendship with the giddy, ridiculous, and hilarious bouts of sheer elation we share is quite beyond me. The genius of it is how seamlessly and how, at such quick intervals, this exchange happens in cycles numerous times in any given exchange between us.
I met Bobby in 1997. We were 19 and we shared a best friend, Aaron. Both boys were graduates of Cathedral High School, the all boys Catholic school downtown. Aaron was going to UT and convinced me to move out to Austin. Bobby helped me move. Aaron had already been living in Austin for a year and I was now joining in on the fun. Bobby stayed in El Paso but he came with us on the move and eventually ended up in Austin a few months later. He was in Austin about every other weekend, which was great fun for both me and Aaron.
Bobby and I became friends during a weird time in my life. I had just broken up with a semi-famous musician in El Paso who I had thought I might marry. A few comments sealed our fate though: "You would make the perfect politician's wife," and "I think all of humanity as one giant whole," were among the doomed utterances. It did not pan out in the long run. Then there was my conversion to Mormonism which steered me even further away.
And there was Bobby! Saving the day! All fun and laughter and sunshine! We played like children! One of our favorite activities was recording our thoughts on a hand-held mini-tape recorder. Some of our thoughts were very, very deep....or so we thought....but most of the time we recorded the silliest things you could dream of uttering. I would love to find that stuff! Priceless! Usually it went something like this: We'd be on our way to a party. We would log our predictions for the night, i.e., who would do or say what to whom, who would we encounter, what would they do or say, blah, blah, blah. Then, at the end of the night, which was very often the next day, we would log the realities of the night, whatever did in fact end up happening. Very often our predictions were dead on. Sometimes there were surprises though. For example, we never anticipated our dear friend Michael would spill copious amounts of some dark, mysterious liquid all over his very handsome shirt. We referred to him as "La Mancha", the stain, for the rest of the night. I think we called him that for a few months actually. All of these little surprises were fun to document.
Well, as time pressed on, life took us in two different directions. I eventually got married which swept me off the radar almost completely. Bobby moved to a few different places and was managing restaurants, doing music, singing in a band, etc. I had heard rumors, here and there, about how great the band was, and I was sorry I didn't know more and hadn't seen or heard it for myself. Then, one winter morning, I was enjoying some lovely breakfast tacos at Taco Deli when all of the sudden I see MY BOBBY!!!! It had been over eight years. He heard me virtually scream his name. He turned suddenly and said, "Kristin! When I heard that voice I knew exactly who it was!" It was so good to see him. He explained he was living in San Antonio but would soon be moving back to Austin. I explained I had recently moved back to Austin from Chicago. We quickly caught up in very general terms. We exchanged info and found ourselves on the phone a lot, catching up on many, many, things that life had dealt us. Some of it was amazing. Some of it was heart breaking. All of it was wonderfully expressed and received. There was something very healing about it.
Now, here we are, 2010. Bobby's band, Politics, is amazing. I now know for myself. We check in on each other regularly and I always feel loved after our conversations. He is wise and caring and just as fun as they come. I'll be at his show at the Parish on February 12. Will you? Then we'll go somewhere after the show and I've promised to bring my new recording device. I think I'll log my predictions for the night on the way downtown. Bobby and I will check them after the show.