Once upon a time in May of 2003 I started work in the corporate office of a very large mortgage company (which I left in 2006, it was acquired by another company then eventually dissolved last year). I was one of the four Marketing Managers that split up the branch offices across the United States. I covered the Southern and Southwest Regions. The position was exciting. The boss lady was a total bitch but the marketing team was amazing. Along with the three other Marketing Managers were our eight internal ad agency folks. These were the artsy people that I normally avoid because the idea of "creativity/art/marketing ideas are NOT subjective". Their work was the best of the best and they could care less if I agreed or not but, we learned to work together just like a dysfunctional family. The marketing department grew over the 3.5 years that I there. We lost a few people, gained a few and got a few fired as needed.
This is where I met C-Say and K-Yo. I became known to them as K-Ho (the title had nothing to do with me sleeping around, I was married at the time and my initials just happened to make the nickname stick).
Both were at XYZ company before I started but I immediately fell into their group of inappropriate laughter, pranks and covering for one another when needed. I will be the first to admit that some of our behavior was not always politically/socially correct but it certainly made it a fun place to spend 7 hours each day.
C-Say was married (to a woman) at the time and was instantly tagged as the "whitest" boy that I know yet he could recite gangsta rap into any discussion. "Top dollar with my gold flea collar" and "Fo shizzle my nizzle" were his favorites. He was also the master at prank phone calls to unsuspecting team members. It was fun when we were making them from a downstairs conference room but the joke elevated when we discovered Internet Relay Services. This was an online service for the deaf to have phone conversations via a translator. We spent many hours utilizing this service to call friends and vendors to say, "Don't, don't you want me? You know I can't believe you when you say that you don't need me". Most of the messages were always relayed to the recipient exactly as we typed but sometimes the live translator seemed confused. It was hilarious!
K-Yo was single and always ready to mingle. Her dating stories were book worthy. After five months of being at XYZ mortgage company, I found out that I was expecting. She was obviously happy for me but our mischievous ways had built up so much by my second trimester that each morning she would say, "Kim, hurry up and have that damn baby so we can go get drinks and really f*ck with people". Needless to say, my first happy hour when returning to work after my maternity leave was with K-Yo and C-Say. I called in sick the next day with a massive hangover but blamed it on guilt of leaving my 7 week old baby girl. Yes, I lied.
One might think that after becoming a parent that my maturity level might increase. Think again.
C, K and K were ready to take on some new material when we discovered Instant Messaging via our company Outlook. In theory, it was supposed to keep us each in the loop of projects/events throughout the company and nationwide. For us, it meant we could constantly bother our co-workers with ridiculous messages such as:
PLEASE OBSERVE ...
this White Faced Saki Monkey
PLEASE OBSERVE ...
this Parastratiospecomyia Stratioshpecomyioides
Videos that we would gather to watch and laugh
hysterically were:
C-Say left the company first then I followed and
K-Yo left a year later. We did a crappy
job of staying in touch but we did the best we could with all that was going on
in our lives.
C was dealing with the adoption of a baby and a
deteriorating marriage. I was going
through a divorce and moving out of state.
K was breaking up with a long time love and distancing herself from two
of her close friends. Things changed for
us all at once.
Fast forward to present day, we have reconnected. We are tad bit more mature but still laugh
about our antics. We
have grown. We have broken hearts, had
our hearts broken, moved forward and are looking forward to our bright
future. These two instant friends have
come full circle back to me. We are
ready to take on the world, one glass of wine at a time.
XOXO C-Say and K-Yo.
.JPG)
.JPG)
