Denise's Place: Everyone Needs an Ethel ~

My friend, Nancy, is my most fun and crazy friend. Now, I don’t want my other friends to get offended by this because they know I love them very much and each of them has their own special place in my heart (I already mentioned how much I love my friends in a previous blog) but Nancy is the one who sits on “ready” and always looking for a fun time and lots of laughs just like me.

I first met Nancy 16 years ago when I started working at a company she worked for. We became instant friends that very day. Since then, we have had umpteen adventures. We are so much like Lucy and Ethel, it is scary. However, since I’ve always been a big Lucy fan, she let’s me be Lucy and she’s Ethel. She is a few years older than I am but you’d never know it.

Nancy has taken me on several trips with her over the years, and had it not been for her, I would never have gotten out of Mississippi/Tennessee! We rode Hangman and Rockin’ Roller Coaster at Opryland in Nashville, we (Nancy) also talked to Fabio outside his limo in Nashville, we rode Hulk and Jurassic Park at Universal Orlando, we flew in a helicopter in Gatlinburg, we’ve been to ghost town in Arizona, we’ve been on a graveyard tour in St. Augustine, we drank Hurricanes at Pat Obrien’s in New Orleans, and we’ve been to a Cher concert in Little Rock, AR. These are just some of the highlights – she’s fun!!

This picture is of Nancy, me, and our friend, Cindy who went with us to Universal Orlando. We’re the ones in the raincoats. I know, I know, but it is a water ride.

This one time in Nashville, we decided to stay later after checking out of our hotel, so we could attend the opening of a new Hard Rock Café and see all the stars that were attending. Well, our Jeep was broken into and things were stolen but we didn’t know it until we were standing around eating snacks out of the back and happened to notice the broken window. We gals really like our snacks! Meanwhile, we had to drive 3 hours home with a trash bag taped to the door as it flapped and made this sound: ppppfffffffttthhhhh all the way – what music! By the by, the tip top of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s head looked really good from what we saw behind about a 10 foot deep crowd.

On another Nashville trip, we went to Opryland Theme Park and it rained the whole day. After walking in shorts all day and being wet, my fat legs were chafed in between. That night in the hotel room I was in so much burning pain, but could only laugh from being made fun of. Well, when I laughed, I peed, and that made the burning worse. Nancy did go to a local pharmacy and buy me some cooling spray to comfort the chafe – that’s what friends are for!

Nancy has a 2nd home in St. Augustine, FL and I’ve been there to visit a couple of times. The last time I went, we had 2 other friends with us. One day, we went to the beach club and everyone but me wanted to do water aerobics – I didn’t need any exercise that day. I needed to lay on my lounger and watch the class and make sure my friends were not goofing off, and catch some sun rays. When the class was over, one of our friends (I’ll call her Lil) got out of the water and came over my way. As she came

towards me I noticed that her swimsuit boobs were very shiny – well lo and behold, she had that swimsuit on wrong side out! I thought I was gonna bust a gut laughing. I was trying to hold it in because I knew Lil would be embarrassed. She had gone all morning and been around the club and in the aerobics class with that suit on like that. I was able to tell her discreetly – yeah right - and we rushed over to a changing room where I stood guard and she fixed herself before anyone else got a load of her. I tried to

hold it in and not tell the others but finally, that night as I was bunking with Nancy in our room, I had to spill it or bust. We laughed so hard, I’ll bet the next door neighbors heard us. Anyway, Lil told it herself the next day and it was still just as funny.

Nancy and I have been out to Arizona twice to see our friend Gloria. Gloria has a beautiful home there (this is not Gloria's home in this picture; we were at the ghost town) and was the perfect hostess for us on these two trips – we got freshly-made Bloody Marys with breakfast each day. The first time there, we went to a local Flea Market and I bought so much pottery, that I had to buy an overseas-sized suitcase so I could load it up with my pottery and check it on the plane. The 2nd time we went, we all drove from Gloria’s to Sedona (to date, the most beautiful place I’ve seen).

This one time in New Orleans, Nancy bought me a set of fake boobs (no photo available) and dared me to pretend they were my real ones and show them off in the French Quarter to get lots of Mardi Gras beads. Well, I’m not proud of this but I took on the challenge and am the proud owner of 5 lbs of red, gold, green and purple beads! Just kidding – it’s only 2 ½ lbs.

Nancy and I have quite a bit of fun right here at home too and she’s taught me a lot. My first time to ever take outside fast food into a movie theater was with her. There is just something about that and the fact that it is a no-no that makes the food tast so much better! We don’t just do snack stuff, we take hamburgers, French fries, and cobbler or other dessert in!

The first time I skinny-dipped (chunky-dunked for me since I’m weight-challenged) was with her and some other girlfriends in Pickwick Lake where one of our friends has a lake house. The rest of the bunch were seasoned skinny-dippers but I was new to the game. It was dark though, so I joined in. After I got in the water I became very scared that some fish or water snake, or some other amphibious creature might come up and bite me while I was nekked! That is very frightening to me. We do have our swimsuits on in this picture below.