Interestingly enough, we first met David at one of Kim's parties, back in December 2006. I believe it was the annual Cookie Exchange party, which is the best excuse I can think of to not eat anything all day, and then consume my entire daily caloric intake on cookies, brownies and other yummy treats. Thankfully, this party is only once a year! Anyway, I remember chatting with David at that party and finding out that he met Kim while they were both students at Duke University. I don't remember much more than that. Rob was still sort of "healthy" at that point, well, healthy compared to his lack of health now... and so was David.
At that first meeting, we had no idea that a little over 2 years later, we'd be reconnected and forming a friendship of our own. But this time, our connection wouldn't be through Kim, but that of an ugly genetic disease known as Polycystic Kidney Disease and the need for dialysis.
And how did this reconnection happen, you ask?
Through Facebook, of course!
And not just through a boring "Facebook friend recommendation" either. No, it was because of a Wall Picture post, the kind that were really popular back in early 2009. Everyone was doing them. You know, the one where you "tag" your friends on a picture of Simpsons characters, and then your friends see that tag, and they hopefully post a funny comment at the bottom. Then your friend right clicks and copies that pic to his/her profile and does the same thing with their friends... Well, in our case, it wasn't a picture of Simpsons characters. It was this one:
Little Miss and Mr. Men characters! So when I started tagging all of my friends on there, including Rob and Kim. I tagged Rob as "The One That's Always Hungry" in the bottom right hand corner. Which I guess is where one would tag their friend who is either fat or pregnant. Rob is neither fat, nor pregnant (although we did joke that he had "twins" after they removed his kidneys last summer), so I figured I would comment on my own picture with a clarification for the Rob tag.
My comment said: "I only tagged Rob as the One Who's Always Hungry because of his grossly enlarged PKD kidneys that make his tummy stick out"
Then Kim responded to her "tag" on this pic. I don't remember what she said, but it's irrelevant. What is relevant is that David was on Facebook that day, and he happened to be on Kim's facebook page, writing something on her Wall. But he happened to see the picture I posted because on Kim's page, it said, "Kim was tagged in a picture". So David, being bored and/or curious, clicked on it, and read the comments. He saw my comment about Rob's grossly enlarged kidneys, and then he thought, hmmm, maybe I should "friend" this girl...
And that's how it began. A few emails back and forth, and then we had dinner at Elmo's. Mmmm...Elmo's. Not the best place to eat for a dialysis patient, but then again, where is a good place to eat while limiting phosphorous, sodium and potassium?
I haven't been to Elmo's since that first "meet and greet" with David in early March 2009. I want to go again. I can't resist their homemade Nanner Puddin'!
So, I never said this out loud, but I will here. Thank you Kim, for being my friend. Thank you for choosing to swim with DAMA when I was coaching, so I could meet you.
So, back to the original picture I posted at the beginning of this blog. We walked for about an hour all around Durham Academy. We were yelled at by some old man because I allowed our bluetick coonhound to go pee-pee on the grass inside the track. Yes, pee-pee. I smiled and said, okay, sorry. David's dog, Herman, unsuccessfully tried eating all of the other dogs for a pre-dinner snack. Then we got caught in some mud off a trail and had to turn back around. But not before Herman thought it would be nice to take a mud bath. Yay. But we had a great time walking and talking and laughing like friends do.
I'll end this post with a super smiley, cute pic of just David, Rob and I at the end of the walk. Yes, we look all smiley and happy, but inside, 2 of us are silently crying out in pain and misery, "Please, give me a kidney now!" And the other one...me...is crying out for a kidney for my husband and my friend. I may have perfectly healthy kidneys, but I know what it's like to have your life disrupted by kidney disease.
Life has been moving along, slowly...kind of like at "half-speed" when you set your DVD to play a certain scene really slow.
I'm waiting, patiently as I can, to be able to press the "resume play" button on our life.
