"I Need Some Sugar! Do You Have Any Sugar?"

It was an all-weekend trip for work to Columbus, where I had three jobs lined up on Friday and Saturday. I'd visited Ft. Benning (the site of my first job) and visited my friend Crystal from Wesleyan afterwards. I stayed the night with Crystal Friday, having a great time with her and her family, being treated to Teriyaki Salad, doing facials, and watching movies that we actually got from a real-life Blockbuster (they still exist!) In the morning, we slept in and then had a delicious breakfast before I got ready for work. All in all, I'd had a fantastic time. It was so nice to get to see someone from school over the summer. I actually did miss Wesleyan a lot more than I thought I would! I can't wait to start back in the fall.

After leaving Crystal's and on my way to my first Saturday job, Kelle, who lives in Auburn - only about 30 mins. away from Columbus - called. We'd talked about me going to visit her but had failed to really make any plans. I answered the phone. "Hey! Did you say you were coming today or tomorrow?" Kelle's familiar voice asked. I hadn't planned yet on coming either... but jumped at the opportunity! It wasn't everyday that I got to see my best friend, who had moved from Florida to a little town in North Carolina when we were in freshman year of High School. The last time I had seen Kelle was last year, during my infamous sleepover when I got diagnosed with Diabetes (mentioned here as one of my friends). I'd been laying in a heap on the floor back then, so it hadn't the most pleasant of goodbyes. Kelle and I made plans over the phone. "But, I won't be there until about 5 or 5:30," I told her. "That's about 4:30 here", she replied. I hadn't even known I'd be switching time zones! I thought it cool that I'd gain back an extra hour of my day.

I finished both of my parties, tired and exhausted but ready to go see Kelle. I plugged in her address into the GPS and set off through Columbus. I'd been through downtown once before but never realized how close I was to Alabama (it had been dark at the time). Now I crossed over a bridge with a beautiful view of the river below and was greeted by a sign that welcomed me to Phenix City, Alabama.

I drove on towards Highway 280 West, and stopped at a gas station to refill, change out of my Cinderella dress, and get a Diet Root Beer. Gas was $3.18, which seemed like a good deal to me. It was a while before I reached 85 and began to travel past Opelika and reach Auburn. Gas here was as low as $3.06! I felt robbed! I got off the exit, excited to reach my destination. I reached the correct apartments and gave Kelle a call to see where I should park. I found visitor parking and that's where my truck came to rest. I took a moment to test, having not had time to eat anything at all today in between my parties. 62, and I knew I'd fall fast if I didn't get anything to eat soon. But I got out of the car, grabbing my purse, and heard that oh-so familiar voice. "Did you get taller again?" My beautiful friend strode over, wearing a strapless dress and boots. I hugged her elatedly. "Everyone always says that, but I don't think so!" I told her. (It was true, everyone always did think I was taller when they hadn't seen me for a while, but my actual height had yet to prove this to be true).

We walked up a flight of stairs to the second-floor landing and entered her apartment. Kelle's fiance, Jeff, was there (I couldn't even remember the last time I'd seen Jeff, who had gone to school with me back in Freshman year at Smith Prep). Kelle, who lived in North Carolina at the time, had come down to visit me and I'd thought that Jeff would make good company for us as we hung out at the mall. Matchmaking win.

Jeff and his roommate went off to watch the UFC fight at Buffalo Wild Wings, so after I got some food from Kelle to stave off my low, Kelle and I decided to do some shopping for dinner at Publix. While it had been 5:30 when I had left for Auburn, it was about 5:20 now that I was actually here. Time traveling! We reached the Publix, which was decorated in the front entryway with Auburn paintings. I could tell that the town had a lot of team spirit! We browsed through all of the aisles, everyone stopping to say hello to Kelle, who worked there. We got some vegetables, meat, and decided on a yummy looking pair of steaks for $10, potatoes, and grilled zucchini and squash for dinner. We checked out and Kelle took me driving through Auburn to see the sights. It was gorgeous! Auburn was like a city. There was just so much of... everything! Tiger pawprints sat right in the middle of the road, painted in orange, and led us to campus. I saw the dorms, the huge stadium, and all of the beautiful brick architecture. With the exception that Auburn dwarfed my little school, the brick buildings made me reminisce of Wesleyan's own rich history and beautiful buildings.

We reached the apartments again and both took in as many groceries as we could hold so as to not have to make a second trip. We put things away, then took out all of the veggies and sliced them up, putting them on a frying pan to grill with seasoning. We put the potatoes on a low boil, and when we finished the vegetables went down to the pool to grill our steaks. It was chilly after the rain - much colder than I'd anticipated - and I huddled next to the grill fire for warmth. We made it back to the apartment, finished all of the other food, and sat down to eat on the sofa in front of Aladdin, which was playing on the TV. It was a delicious dinner, and I was ravenous. I didn't bolus a bit, and by the time I fell asleep that night, I felt fine but had forgotten to check my blood sugar before bed.

The next morning I woke up to mom calling me at 9:15 (eastern time). It was 8:15 here. I answered the phone groggily. "Mom, it's 8:15 here!" "Oh! Sorry," she told me. "I just wanted to call and make sure you made it all right. And tell Kelle to call her mom, she's worried about the shootings last night." Shootings? "I'll tell her," I told mom. "We're all fine. Love you. Bye!" Kelle rolled over. "Call your mom", I said. "Apparently there were two shootings here last night!" We sat in the bed, talking, after Jeff had filled us in from the other room about what had happened. Two football players and one other person had been shot and killed - quite close to the apartment complexes we were at, actually. It had made National News. Kelle and I continued to talk through the morning, but soon the familiar shaky feeling came over me and I pushed it away like a bad thought.

After a time it had become hard to ignore, though, and I sat up quickly. "I really need to check my blood sugar," I said, walking into the kitchen where my meter was. 10 seconds later, I had my result: a solemn 50 staring at me from the screen. "Do you have any sugar?" I yelled to Jeff and Kelle. "I really need some. Any that you have." Kelle looked at me confusedly. "Sugar?" She asked. Jeff came out into the kitchen, the same puzzled look on his face. "Umm..." He opened the pantry door and rummaged around for a moment. A few seconds later he emerged, holding a white bag in his hands. It was a bag of sugar! "You actually eat straight sugar?" I stared between him and Kelle for a second and laughed. "No! Of course not!" I laughed a second time. I was unused to being around people who didn't know my Diabetic habits. Jeff seemed relieved as he put the sugar back into the pantry. I went on to explain, "Saying "sugar" is just out of habit for me. I really just mean anything with carbs - just check the back of nutrition labels. Something over 15 grams of carbs is good for a low." Jeff ended up grabbing some Italian Ice out of the fridge for me - I took it back to Kelle's room and ate it. It was much more delicious than eating sugar! Soon enough, I felt much better.

We spent the whole day shopping at the boutiques in downtown Auburn. They were adorable! Handmade jewelry, designer dresses, local artists, and all of the Auburn paraphernalia you could possibly imagine... I was in love. The sights and smells were new and unique to me. Kelle and I sat in one shop for at least an hour, trying to decide which jewelry we liked the best. I finally decided on a pair of pretty blue feather earrings - I'd always wanted some - and some pretty blue and green earrings with gold dreamcatcher feathers hanging on the bottom.


It was fantastic! I had such a good time I could hardly believe it. It seemed like it had been ages since I had gone shopping with a friend. Not just to find stuff to buy, but to have an experience - bonding and just simply having girl time together with a childhood best friend. My heart was happy. It began pouring as we headed to a shopping center called Tiger Town to browse, so we made our way back through the downpour in the car carefully. We were starved! Kelle and I (Kelle cooked - mostly I sat and watched) browned some meat in a pan and cooked up a fajita salad. I felt like my friends were really treating me this weekend to low-carb meals! The salad was delicious. We sat and talked a while longer, and I had a cup of coffee before my long two-hour trip back to Forsyth. Kelle soon had to leave for work, and as she got ready in her Publix Uniform I did a quick run-through to make sure I had all of my stuff.

5:15 PM (central time). It was time to leave. We walked down to the parking lot, where our vehicles were parked next to each other. The sun had begun to come out. Gosh, I was bad at goodbyes. We stared at each other, two girls who had known each other for years. I hadn't seen Kelle in over a year, but in between the time that had elapsed from then and now, it felt like not a single thing had changed. Our lives had changed, but not us. We had so much history together that I began to believe that we'd probably always be best friends. We gave each other long hugs, and I smiled at Kelle. "See you soon," I said, shutting the door to the truck.








The time had passed too quickly, but the memories that the last weekend had given me would last a lifetime.