Pure Admiration: Pee and All

I had a friend growing up where every time I got to see her my heart would palpitate with delight, my stomach would lurch with excitement. In fact I would get so excited to see her, that sometimes I’d even pee my pants. She’d see me shake with unbreathable laughter and say something just funny enough that I’d completely lose all bladder control. Both of our moms were divorced and worked full time jobs so it was a rare but joyful occasion that we’d get to hang out. But when we did, our families went all out: trips to zoos and parks, camping and ski trips, and even the occasional concerts and theater performances.

That’s Erin in her cutie-pie visor. I’m just picking my nose. As usual.

I loved how she put up with my bullish, awkward self. Usually I was the culprit and getting us into trouble: breaking window panes, bathing pet hamsters, picking locks with toothpicks, chasing boys… but she loved me anyway. I loved her imagination and passion, particularly when it came to music and dancing. We’d create songs and dances, convinced everyone thought we were as amazing as WE thought we were. Above all I loved how she could make me laugh and I wanted us to be friends forever. And ever and ever.

I emulated everything about her; I pretended my short and curly rat’s nest hair was as long and beautiful as hers. I was even jealous when her hair got sucked up into the mini vaccuum while cleaning up the car after a co-family ski trip, “Why can’t MY hair get sucked up?” I’d secretly whine. I would torpedo down terrifying ski slopes to keep up with the girl in the hotpink get up; I sprained many body parts trying to do gymnastics like she could and I would try to mimic her hip sense of style and attitude well into high school. Through all the changes we suffer through as children and adolescents, she always remained the same person. I loved her for that.

My Erin: always unconditional. Please enjoy the silverback in the background.

When college rolled around, I accepted the fact I would not be seeing her often. While she applied to the University of Colorado that required decent SAT/ACT scores and college essays, I applied to a school requiring a single page application. Go Pokes! Through the flurry of sorority living, she met Sarah who would forever change the course of Erin’s life. It was through Sarah, who would introduce Erin to her first and ultimate love. They were both 19. He grew up with Sarah in Hawaii and attended school in California. Friends and family wondered how a long distance, young love could possibly survive. But it did. On his own, he picked up his life, moved to Colorado and made his way through junior college, then university, intertwining his dreams with hers.

For many of us, the year after college was rocky and terrifying. Erin struggled with finding a job. In between job hunts, she babysat and sold Mary Kay. At one point she and Dustin lived in her parent’s house to make ends meet. It would have been so easy to give up but Erin remained the ebullient individual I knew her for and eventually the pieces came together. After some enlightening career counseling, she began a career in PR that complemented her journalism degree. In describing this discovery Erin said she loved PR writing and it was “without the hellish hours and abysmal wages of a reporter.” Dustin soon graduated and the two of them didn’t just survive. They thrived. Marrying in 2007, the two of them are the type of couple everyone makes fun of but secretly wants to be. Their love is timeless and down to earth. They share a ridiculous closeness that most people only dream about. And they know the value of a good Bloody Mary on a Saturday morning.

The Dolins doin’ it up EXACTLY how they imagined it…

Nowadays we are all grown up with families of our own. Erin morphed her career into owning her own PR business with no intentions of ever updating her resume. She has found the independence and success she deserves working for herself. She and Dustin have a giant baby boy who is the perfect perfection of genes. He will no doubt compliment and continue a family lineage that this world desperately needs more of. While I am glad I fell into my own successful and happy mold, I still get overwhelmingly excited to see my childhood friend who always holds me in positive light no matter what the circumstances. Even in pee soaked pants.