true life: my friends live at my house.

ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you that i ALWAYS seem to have people over at my house. which, i have to say, is totally true. and not in a "omg y'all, i'm so popular" way, just my parents are cool with people randomly showing up unannounced plus we always have a plethra of soft drinks stocked up, so our house is just usually the gathering place.


for example, my cousins graduation party. my cousin (who my mother wishes was her child. instead she was stuck with me and wayne) just graduated from law school at samford so my family, my aunt, uncle, and cousins were coming over to eat. i was upstairs "babysitting" my younger cousin, emma kate, also fondly known as EK (pronounced eeek). and when i say babysitting, i mean my friend anne and i were drawing pictures to put on our fridge while my more responsible and caring friend alston (she is fondly known as aldog) was doing the babysitting.


anyways, anne's boyfriend, connor, texts her and says, "is it cool if we come over?" there are a couple of points that need to be made at this time...1) we don't know who "we" is. 2) we didn't feel like going downstairs to tell my parents that people were coming over. and 3) we didn't tell our friends that there was a graduation party downstairs. so, 15 minutes later, 10 guys come busting in through my back door since no one bothers knocking any more, walk through the party, and go upstairs like its no big deal. my parents, who are used to people filtering in and out, didn't see it as anything strange or unusual, but needless to say, my cousins were slightly confused.


another time, i told my parents, "oh by the way, i might have like 5-10ish people over tonight to watch a movie." lo and behold, people tell other people to come over, and by the time we turn off the movie, not only are there about 7 people there that i didn't know about, there were probably a grand total of 35 people there. and let's not forget the time when we hosted about 40 people at midnight after holiday assembly with only 12 hours notice. yes, at 10 AM my friend called and said, "yeah we kinda procrastinated planning the after party until now...so can we just come to your house?"


and finally, last thursday, i went to chez fon fon for some classy mother daughter bonding time with my mom, laine, and her mom. that night, i was also going to see the midnight premiere of pirates of the caribbean 4, so hannah and anne were spending the night. i had told them earlier to just let themselves in (they know where the spare key is) and when me and my mom pulled up, there were about 5 other cars there that we didn't know about that belonged of some of my guy friends who decided to come hang out until the movie. also, my brother was just getting dropped off, and we pulled in right in time to see him running in the house, banishing a full sized american flag (?). this is my life.


my friend, laine, tells me all the time that there's no way i could ever feel unloved or lonely, because i'm always surrounded by people. which is partially true. i love having people over, i love having my friends know my parents, my pets, and even extended family members, i love having my friends go upstairs and grab a coke the second they walk in, and i love keeping around old clothes that don't fit anymore because they fit my friends and i know when they come over, they will probably borrow them. i'm pretty sure my family likes them too. on christmas night, my mom even wanted people to come over because the house felt too quiet. so anne and two of my brothers/my friends came over and played ping pong and ate elf shaped pancakes with wayne's brand new pancake stencils.


i think my favorite part, though, of having my house as the gathering place is that people who normally don't hang out, do. for instance, my friends who i went to church with for years and are in college now live at my house when they're home on holiday so of course my friends in my grade have met them and even befriended them. so once again, my selfishness wins out because i get to have everyone i'm friends with get along and hang out with me at the same time. and have i ever mentioned that i absolutely adore my friends and that i have the best ones in the world? 'cause i do. y'all, my life rocks.


until next time, or until you drop in to my house,
ali


"Without my friends, I would have a slimmer figure, a higher GPA, and more money in my bank account. And I would be miserable."

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival." -C.S. Lewis