Surviving my Big Black Thumb (plus a wee bit of road rage, just for good measure)

clematisYeek! I arrived over at Barry’s for coffee with MMCB2 falling all over myself apologizing in case one of my MMCBs thought I was honking at her! I was not. I didn’t actually know she was in the vicinity. I was honking at the person in the Jetta who was signaling to get into the right turn lane but taking an E-T-E-R-N-I-T-Y to actually get INTO the right turn lane. This was at the Jackson/N. Maple intersection and the light was green but I knew it wouldn’t be for long and I did NOT want to sit around for the 2-3 minutes it would take to get the next light. If you are in a lane, STAY THERE. If you are changing lanes, CHANGE LANES! Jeebus.

He eventually got over and I made the light and halfway through the intersection, I realized the vee-hickle ahead of me now was a small Toyota with an Obama 2012 sticker on the back. Hello! My Coffee Buddy! I would NEVER honk at her and I hadn’t. I had honked at a Jetta. But what if she *thought* I was honking at her. In the end, it was all good. She said, “I was listening to National Petroleum Radio and I didn’t hear any honking.” (Actually, MMCB didn’t say “National Petroleum Radio”. The GG calls it that. MMCB calls it “NPR”.) I needed my coffee buddies today albeit not for any particular reason. It’s just nice to have *friends*. The kind that you meet up with because you *want* to, not because you work with them or go to school with them or volunteer with them or whatever. Not that those kinds of relationships don’t ever turn into true friendships. MMCB2 and I were school volunteers together. Many years ago.

Blah blah blah… Do you like my clematis? This is one of the few plants that seems to be able to survive my Big Black Thumb. Because of that, I actually know what it is and a while back when we were hanging around in Atlanta for a weekend, I found myself in the awkward position of [timidly] correcting my BFF Sam when she called an identical specimen of clematis Something Else. Why was I timid? Well, because, although Sam’s area of expertise is archaeology, she is the daughter of The Botanist (may he rest in peace) and she knows a LOT about plants via his HUGE backyard garden and probably many glimpses into his life’s work. So I hesitated to differ with her. But yet, hmmm, I have those in my yard and the label said “Clematis something something” when I bought the plant. After thinking about it for maybe a split second, she agreed that I was right. Phew. It’s okay, she will be right the next 500 times 🐸🐗

BTW, another example of a *friend*. I’ve posted this before but, when I met my Sam (long story involving my cuzz Jay and Radical Betty’s back deck), I had no clue (nice, friendly, and cool as she was) that we would end up being lifelong friends.

2 Responses to “Surviving my Big Black Thumb (plus a wee bit of road rage, just for good measure)”

  1. Margaret Says:

    I met several close friends by volunteering at school. (or through Alison’s gymnastics) We also meet up for coffee dates and chats; it’s wonderful to enjoy those long relationships where they know your back stories.

  2. Sam Says:

    Thanks for getting me on the right track about the clematis. I will NEVER get that wrong again! The Botanist did not grow a single clematis, so my floral deep-background essentially was clematis-deficient. Please always teach me! PS I don’t think you are quite the Black Thumb you think you are….