8 things that remind me of my friends Heather and Erica

next Sunday, I am going to meet my friends Heather and Erica in Portland. I don't think I have seen Heather since my wedding, and it's been almost that long since I have seen Erica. Why do we let our girlfriends drift away? Although I haven't seen them, I do think of them often. Here are eight things that remind me of Heather, Erica, or both of them:

*The Kids in the Hall: I first saw TKITH on videotape at Erica's apartment. I thought it was the funniest thing I had ever seen- and they still crack me up. Here is a photo of my daughter the headcrusher:


*Jonathan Richman (with or without the Modern Lovers): Erica introduced me to this goofy troubadour, who is often featured in Farrely Brothers' movies. We liked to sing "Stop this Car, (I'm getting out)"

*Depeche Mode: Heather and I spent the better part of one summer driving to Portland to visit her boyfriend in the hospital. Heather must have only had two tapes in her car- Depeche Mode and Erasure- because either time I hear either of them, I am instantly tansported back to a white Dodge Colt with blue vinyl interior....

* One Crazy Summer/ Better Off Dead: I don't know how we enjoyed singing animated cheeseburgers without the benefit of any recreational drugs, but we did.

*Crosby Steals a Snack: Heather's innocent misnomer for Crosby, Stills and Nash.

* car pranks: I remember having my car filled with popcorn, and I remember only slightly filling other people's cars with flour (?) in retaliation. The funniest car prank was when Heather and Erica affixed a row of maxi pads to the bumper of my car the day after I had hit a pole (or something). For extra protection.

* rolling curfew: I remember that our curfews were something like 10, 10:30, and 11- so that we would have time to drop each other off and get home by curfew. I think our parents coordianted that.

* Code names: We tried, on more than one occasion, to refer to each other by our aliases (I think mine was Inez?) in public, so that kidnappers couldn't use our real names to lure us to their lairs.