Thank You Auntie Helen!

Bright and bold. Nora loves her blankies from "Aunt" Helen.

My friend Helen went to high school with me. She's one of two people I keep in contact with from those dark years of social nothingness.

Helen and I didn't know each other particularly well in high school. I shared some classes with her and liked her, mostly because she had this L.A. vibe of coolness that you don't find in the rain-soaked valleys of Northwestern Washington. Most of our classmates were hicks who'd been in Mount Vernon since its settlement, and often couldn't see past the unmarked boundary of Skagit County to know there was a world outside their own.

It's not that Mount Vernon is a bad place, but you can imagine high school kids in a small town in Anywhere USA. So Helen and I were from the outside, me having moved there in the 6th grade, and Helen was was relatively new too. Naturally, most of us outsiders tended to gravitate towards each other since most cliques in school had started in kindergarten we weren't there for.

Helen and I lost touch after high school, but I saw her at our 10th reunion, and then again in Seattle in 1996, the day my divorce was final and hers was just beginning.

I ran into her at the DMV where I was fresh from my court appearance and eager to get my maiden name back and put my ex behind me. She was there to change her address after moving out from her first marriage.

So, there we were. We've stayed in touch over the past 10 years, and even though SHE didn't come see us in Denver, her new husband Daniel did.

And recently, Nora was the beneficiary of Helen's sewing skills. Helen's been making blankets for babies for a long time now.

The picture of Nora is on one of Helen's blankies she sent. It's so bright, and Nora LOVES laying on it and looking at the fishes.

Thank you Auntie Helen!