i swear. every time i hang out with my friend bronson i eat crap i tell you.
for the past few days i have been living on restaurant fettuccine alfredo, alcohol and garlic bread. also m&ms.
oh. and i don’t sleep worth a hot d*mn when he’s around. because he’s so much fun of course. the boy is a party in a button-down shirt and jeans.
i met him back when i was wondering from state to state job skipping, and had landed in south dakota for 8 months. i had the fortune of only living there from feburary to november so i missed most of the blizzard season, and as a result quite enjoyed my time.
actually, i really enjoyed my time. the state has a way of stealing your heart. and seeing bronson the last few days has made me miss it so.
made me miss the freedom i had to write whatever the heck i felt like at the paper i worked for because the staff was too small for anyone to pay any attention to me. the freedom be a selfish twit because my family was 14 hours east. the freedom to be whomever i felt like because nobody in a 500 miles radius had ever met me before.
and ya, it was a little weird to be the only vegetarian in an ENTIRE state. and one of 7 liberals. and to be told i spoke with an accent. but deep down, i kind of liked being different. being the cool, mysterious outsider. the strange girl who didn’t eat meat.
just as i started to fall in love with the mount rushmore state, i met bronson. the coolest cat in town. he wasn’t from there either. and although he ate meat, we had about 6 million other things in common. like the fact that journalism literally spilled out of our veins. and that we thought political people like governors qualified as famous. and our love of spinach dip. and gossip.
needless to say, we clicked super quick. totally platonic and whatnot, but it was the kind of friendship that i’ve learned not to take for granted.
and while he’s been visiting me here in chicagoland these last few days, we’ve reminisced about the freedom, cheap liquor and south dakota sunsets as much as we could.
he left today though, so i have to sink back into reality. back into lean cuisine fettuccine alfredo, water and aldi garlic bread. back to going to bed at a normal time. back to a life so full of responsibilities that sometimes i feel like i’ve been dumped in the ocean 65 feet from shore, with water 75-feet deep that’s filled with sharks and no life jackets.
but at least i know i had that brief time in south dakota. that time to find myself before adult hood really took hold. i’m grateful for that. and for bronson.
i just hope he visits again soon.
