December 2007

Our friendship really took flight on an architecture studio field trip to the windy city.  The three of us girls wanted to see as much as possible.  We did more than just regard the titanium, architectural innovation that drew our class to Chicago.  The three of us pranced over each crosswalk with a different dance, befriended a waiter and boycotted glass as the enemy of the misguided city bird we found dead on a sidewalk.

By the next field trip, we were the color-coordinated commencement of the rain boot trend (I refuse to believe otherwise).  We were the hurricane season fall line, splishing-and-splashing in the public fountains of the nation’s capital.  Indeed, we were an unstoppable trio.

Yet, when my birthday clock struck twenty-two on January 21, 2006, Sandra was far, far away, in the warmer temperatures of Florida.  Missing her presence, but not her spirit, Nina and I found a way to represent our missing Equatorian counterpart:  Photoshop Dora the Explorer into the birthday photos wherever possible (another example of the merits of paying big bucks for an education that includes media manipulation curriculum).  Graduation sent us all in separate directions, so when Sandra returned to Pittsburgh for a visit, the thing to do was to bake Dora into the photos.

Who knew that shortly after our reunion, I’d be spending six long months watching Dora L’Exploratrice, the French version, as part of my au pair job in the outskirts of Paris?  “La fille avec la grosse tête,” was how my French professor described that small wonder, who not only explores the world but seems to be conquering it as well.  That bigheaded Dora isn’t afraid of shifting planes, continents and languages, but she should take heed of forks.

*Note:  I made this card before I had a grasp on the subjunctive, so it should have said, “Il faut qu’on dise….”  I take grammar very seriously.