Stinky in the Window

Back in college at Oregon State University, somewhere around my first senior year...I worked a McGrath's Fish House Restaurant. It was a fun time. I needed some money and I had prepping, cooking and basic kitchen skills so we were a good match. I met a girl name Whitney on one of the first days at work. Sidenote: the restaurant was brand new and we were some of the first hires, crazy. Anyway, Whitney and I started talking, laughing, chatting and getting to know one another. We soon realized that we somehow knew each other but couldn't place it. To this day we still can't put our finger on it and chalk it up to a past life...we must have been sisters or something. So, we work the prep kitchen together and saute line and as our friendship grows we become...well more comfortable around each other. So much so that one day at work I was in the huge walk in frig and needed to pass a bit o'gas....needless to say Whitney was the next to walk in and well, I have been Stinky ever since! To make it all fair she is referred to as Stinks. And the window part...that is easy...there was a pass through window from the prep kitchen to the saute line and as I called for items, "Hey Stinks, pass up some (insert needed item here)" and then when needed item was in the window she would holler, "Stinky, (blank) is in the window!" Now fast forward a decade or so and those memories may not have the breadth they once did, but the vividness of some select memories are priceless to me. And truth be told, Stinks is the reason Carlos and I went on our second date! I was having a BBQ at the blue house in Corvallis, (I soooo wanted Carlos to be there) and she said, "If you don't call him I will!" Well them there are some threatening words so I made the call. The rest is history. I was in her wedding. I looked like and felt like a giant (yet glittery) marshmallow but that damn reception was a hoot and Steve's South African friends really do know how to parrrrrrr-tay!

So tonight Whitney came for a visit. All the way from Perth, Australia...but formally from Singapore. But before that they were in Atlanta and just before that they were in South Africa. I love hearing about their life overseas, abroad and out of the USA. They are down-to-earth yet love adventure (she has made over 1000 jumps), (yes out of an airplane) and with the connections facebook allows, we are even more in touch with each other's day-to-day lives...from across the globe. We got to spend two hours catching up on old times (things you can't say on fb or mention in email), take a walk, drink a cold one and meet my family. Quick. Too quick. But we made the best of it and almost forgot to get a picture. So, here is Stinky and Stinks. Together again if only for a short time. See ya next time...or maybe I need to get to Perth?