Kellie got into town last night. T. and I went to the airport and picked her up. I was so nervous to see her again and I actually didn't recognize her at first. She's blonde now and much skinnier than she used to be, though she was never close to fat -- muscular is more like it. I really liked her red hair from before, though.

    When she last saw me, five years ago, I had shoulder-length hair in a spiral perm and was skinnier. Oh well. She was my best girlfriend when I lived in England. We were very much alike in our development. I consider us both late bloomers. Of course, she grew up more than I did while I was there and got married after her first year in college to a boy she met in England. He was one of the G.I.s that we knew.

    I remember telling her one day that I had found where the cute guys were — the fire station! I swear it wasn't more than a month later that we met up with a few of these firemen and she ended up marrying one.

    So, Wednesday night we went out for beers and reminisced about the good old days. Our lives followed such different paths after high school. She got married and went into the Air Force. I really admire her for surviving boot camp. That is something that I would never be able to do. Now she's heading back to school and I think she's really going to do great things with her life.

    We bar-hopped and talked about this and that. After we got home Kellie fished out some room temperature Keystone beers from her suitcase and we sat out on the porch and chatted. That was the best.

    It's so strange to be together again. She and I are not instant, huggy kind of people and it took a little while to warm up. We are both such different people than we were in high school. I am so happy that she decided to be my Maid of Honor and come to the wedding. I was supposed to be hers but she pulled a bait and switch on me and I wasn't able to make it. Basically, she was planning a family wedding and then bailed at the last minute and a few weeks later she got married by a Justice of the Peace. I was so bummed.