Thursday, April 20, 2006

An Ode to Foot

Oh, the year was 1999...

It was the beginning of September, and there I was, this wimpy, little barely weighing one hundred pounds thing, with limp red hair, and books clutched tightly to my chest.
It was my first day of high school.

Although I hadn't gotten lost yet, I still couldn't get over the size of my new school. Coming from a school with only one hallway and one girls' bathroom was quite an adjustment to this two-storey building with at least three girls' bathrooms! Everything seemed so big to me, especially the older students. Who ever thought that someone close to my age could actually seem that intimidating to me? They seemed to own the school; they joked with teachers, had "their" table in the cafeteria, and did you ever feel special when they talked to you. I envied those kids and was scared of them.

So, there I was at the dreaded time: lunch hour. Who was I supposed to sit with? I had come from a French Catholic school to an English Public school, and I knew almost no one. Of course, I recognized a few people from around Chesterville, but they were all large dinkos by my books, and I had no idea how to even strike up a conversation with them. Do you have to narrow your conversation down to four-wheelers and snowmobiles? Was I supposed to swear? Thankfully, I did know Johanna, and I figured that I could sit with her. She was demoted to my back-up plan because she had made already a lot of friends from middle school, and she seemed to know half of the high school population already.

I was on my tiptoes, peeking into the already full cafeteria, hoping to see another lost soul that I could sit with. I was almost about to give up hope when "it" happened.

There she was, like a ray of light breaking through the grey clouds; she was coming right towards me, coming from the cafeteria, and all I could think was Hallelujah! A familiar face that didn't induce hick thouhts. She was tall, had dark brown hair, a dimple on one cheek when she smiled, and sported a pair of beltless jeans. Finally, here was my saviour from this two-storey, three girls' bathroom, confusing building! I was so happy to see her. She and I had both had drama earlier in the day, but we hadn't thought of eating lunch together.

So, we sat down together, munching on our sandwiches (that probably contained meat for both of us back then), and we began talking about the new, frightening world of high school. We weren't that close friends then, as we had just met each other the previous summer. We were still getting to know each other, and regretfully, no Miranda moments or slow Alanna moments had blossomed yet.

As time went one, we got to know each other, and we learned that we had a lot in common. However, the one thing that we definitely did not have in common was our height. We were almost one foot apart. I think it complemented us well, as it made us look always a little quirky when we stood beside each other.

I think one thing that we will both remember is how exactly we first started talking to each other and becoming friends. We met whilst doing the play, Anne of Green Gables. One day, when were in the changing room, trying on different dresses, she and I both went to look in the mirror at the same time. It was a funny sight. Thanks to our height, we weren't blocking each other's faces.

So now, the saying goes: We knew that we would first be friends when we realized that we could both look into a mirror at the same time!

We're pretty lame, but that's why Alanna seeked me out that first day. There was no way in heck that I was even going to dream of sitting with the so-called "cool" kids. We were totally beyond that.

Of course, I could also bring up the stories about how Foot became Foot and what happens when we did music videos, but that, my friend, is a story perhaps only reserved for the lascivious AMA tales.

Now, in terms of the lack of recent entries, well, I won't really apologize, but I will say this: Addis Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia. Say it three times fast and then phone our hotline and our very own Baba will be there to serve you.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Alanna says:
Awesome! Oh Miranda, you're too perfect! Thank you very much for writting a entry about me, especially seeing as I am so much more interesting that the dinko you call 'alex' (I still haven't got over the fact that he rudely forgot to come to my brithday party).