HAVE I EVER TOLD YOU? JANINE

     I just saw that a person from Australia is reading my blog. I've never been to Australia, but 
Have I ever told you that one of my closest friends is from there? We met in Southern California, where both of us lived in the same missionary house. Janine was (and probably is) a skinny, blond girl, who won hearts with her sincere laugh and a loving attitude. Since then, we did a lot of things together. She inspired me with her lack of pragmatism. Once, she was selling flowers in the big parking lot of the mall in Long Beach, Ca. It was late night. Many restaurants, movie theaters and discos were just next to that parking lot, so we caught people when they were going on the date or to their cars. Janine heard someone call for help. A man sat on the ground by the car wheels, drunk and badly beaten. At this point, I would go, call the police and wash my hands of the situation. Janine calmed the man down, went and got some water, washed his face from blood. The fellow began to feel better just from feeling her compassion. He gave her all the money he had in the pocket, climbed in the car and drove off. It was not the only time Janine showed me how limited my own thinking was. 
     Like I said, she was skinny. If I would do anything to lose weight, Janine would've done anything to gain it. She exercised, took supplements and ate like a horse. This is how I know that there is no justice in the world: if I ate like Janine, I wouldn't be able to pass through the door. After every meal she would get on the scale and exclaim: "I gained half a pound!" After she went to the bathroom: "I lost half a pound!" She had straight, straight beautiful blond hair. She worked very hard to give it volume: teased it and sprayed clouds of noxious hair spray. As soon as she went out the door and a breeze blew, her hair returned to its previous shape and Janine hung her cute nose in sadness. 


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