while attempting to prepare nuala’s happy birthday post i realized that i never wrote one for marina. this panicked me into a heavy state of guilt. marina, i know i am a crud kind of friend. and also you haven’t even gotten a present from me yet. and also, i’m not even quite sure what day your actual birthday is. the 25? 26? 27? i have no fucking clue. i know it’s in july. so i’m a full month late here, but that is no excuse. just so we’re clear here, i did get you a present. it’s in the mail. it’s delightful. or it will be delightful. eventually. maybe. you never know. it’s no fukoku glove, but it’s a start.
so then we’ve known each other what? 6 years? 6.5? that’s a long time. and you know what i have to say about that? absolutely nothing. i don’t think i’ve managed to remember your birthday ONCE since we’ve been friends. maybe last year? or the year before that? i remember the one time senior year where i threw you that big party but that was like in march or something. nowhere near your birthday. but i feel it was a valiant effort. even though your memory and joy at receiving pride and prejudice on vhs has subsequently been supplanted by mark who got it for you on dvd. damn you, mark.
one of my favorite memories of you, marina, (and i), is when we got those aviator head set walkie talkies so that bi!! and trevor would shut the fuck up about how we tied up the phone line for hours even though we lived across a small man-made lake from one another. because walking across the grass while sporting a stylish head-set and being catty with you is my idea of a fucking good time. promise me that someday we will live next door to one another again. and the next time we own something as patently absurd and dorkish as head-set walkie talkies we MUST take pictures of ourselves wearing them.
happy late birthday, marina, i love ya!
p.s. i also liked it when you brought me presents from asia. don’t forget ukraine.