Drink a Beer

Everyone has heard the saying…oh, you know the one…something to the effect of ‘people enter your life for a reason or a season’. Is that right? Close enough. When I was working at the police department, I met a LOT of people. Officers, jailers, dispatchers…a huge sum of people. Some I considered my friends and others mere acquaintances. One was close enough that she and I traveled to Seattle together and she helped me photograph my cousins wedding. She traveled hundreds of miles with a homemade wedding cake in her car for me. She’s the best of the best. Many of the others I truly feel were in my life for a season. I needed to break out of my shell and experience life and they were there to help me do just that. One year for my birthday, a large group from the police department took me out to the bar. Drinks were flowing and I think every person there bought me a mixed drink or a shot and Lizzi was a wee bit tipsy. No, Lizzi was drunk. Capital D, drunk. There was a large birthday cake with bright green icing and sooooo many drinks. Can you see where this is going? One officer bought me multiple Skylab Fallouts (a bright blue, fruity concoction) and I kept calling them Skydivers. “I love skydivers!” It was all fun and games…until it wasn’t. My childhood best friend had come to town to hang out with me for my birthday so she was at the bar, too, and years later I found out just how good of a friend she was. After what felt like a few dozen cocktails, I suddenly became very aware of how fast the room was spinning, how close I was to the floor, and how far I was from the nearest restroom. I grabbed an empty white, plastic, Budweiser pitcher and threw up. Yup. Right there at the table. I made a feeble attempt to “run” to the bathroom and Kristen was right there on my arm making sure I didn’t fall flat on my face. I remember very little from this point forward, aside from the fact that I threw up in a hotel bathroom sink and it was bright, fluorescent green. (Thank you, green food coloring and blue curacao.) Turns out, I threw up everywhere and Kristen not only cleaned it up, but used her finger to unclog the sink drain. Hahahaha! True friendship right there. Hi there. Meet my friends, Above and Beyond. I can only tell you a few people I remember from that night and very little of what happened, but I will always remember having someone by my side to literally hold my hair back. She’s in my life for a reason.