About this Southside girl I know.
Last night I went to dinner with my friend Jackie. We went to Chilam Balm in Lakeview. Tapas, and we ordered far more then we should have. I love Chilam, and if you haven’t been you need to go. I’ll go with you. I’ve known Jackie for fourteen years. I met Jackie when we both worked at this retail sports store in the south suburbs of Chicago. We were so young. I wish I could remember how we became friends… she probably called me an asshole and I was probably like, ‘I think I’m in love.’ Over the years we’ve grown up together, and we’ve became “some-what” adults from those kids who met at nineteen. We were so dumb.
One summer we decided to buy tickets to a Cubs/Sox game off of Craigslist. I don’t know if Stubhub existed, but it was probably too expensive so we went the Craigslist route. Jackie met me at my parents house, and dressed in our Sox appeal we jumped into my convertible and made our way down to Comiskey Park. We paid for parking and followed the guys’ instructions. “Meet me on 35th in front of the park. I’ll roll down the window and give you guys the tickets and you can give me the money.” Oh, ok that seems reasonable. We did the exchange, and made our way to the gate. “I’m sorry sir, these tickets are not working… I think you bought fake tickets.” “Excuse me? There’s no way… try again.” I was distraught, however I think Jackie laughed. She also proceeded to text the guy threatening him. “My family is in the goddamn mafia you fucker… I’ll have them find you if you don’t come return our money. You fucking dick.” That’s Jackie, and she’s from the Southside and will not take your shit, and I love her for it.
A few years ago Jackie met her now husband Tim in LA. I remember her coming home, and telling me she met this guy at a bar in LA and that she really liked him. Oh, right, he also was Australian, and still lived there. Now, I’m not always a pessimist, but I was quick to tell her she was being an idiot. There’s no way this works out. I was very very very wrong. After they had been long distance dating for a while she decided to move to Australia. The night before she left I drove to her house to say bye, and wish her luck, and to remind her I was a phone call a way. At that time we spent a lot of time together, and I was heartbroken she was leaving. I took the long way home that night -I needed a minute. The streets were quiet and empty and when I put on the radio The Cranberries, ‘Dreams,’ was playing. Music always comes at the right time.
Last night over dinner we caught-up, and it was like no time had passed. We talked about life, and being 33, and how this was not what we expected. We talked about the good stuff, and the not so good stuff. There are no secrets. We talked about making more of an effort to see each other, and we laughed about the shit that we have been through together over the last fourteen years. Jackie was my original faux girlfriend. She was my go-to date for many family parties, and I was hers. We are such different people now from those kids who met at 19, and shopped at Abercrombie, and drove around endlessly in my convertible thinking we were so cool. Those 19-year-old versions of us had to remind each other they were going to be ok, and it turns out so did the 33-year-old versions of us. xo