Have you met Papasan?

This is my very good friend Kristin Clark. Some people (well Frank and me) like to call her Papasan. Allow me to describe her to you and then you’ll understand.

I’ve known Kristin since high school Well, junior high, really, but she was too cool to talk to me then. You see, Kristin was a rarity: she was in the smart classes AND she was a cheerleader. But don’t worry, that’s where the similarities between Kristin and a Tori Spelling Lifetime movie end.

When it was time to go to UT, Kristin and I decided to buy matching comforters and room together in a tiny little space. When we bought the blue plaid comforters I remember Kristin said, “We look like boys.” But hey, Kristin, have you noticed that Lynette and Tom on Desperate Housewives have the same one? It’s from 1995. Boy, are their set decorators cheap.

But back to KC: After sleeping five feet away from Kristin for almost a year, I learned something very important about her: She is extremely, extremely (I would go on but I hate it when people repeat words unnecessarily) LAID-BACK.

Being laid-back can be good: she rarely gets mad, she never gets annoyed, she doesn’t mind if you borrow her clothes, etc. She’s just, in general, a very cool person. In fact, it’s this attitude that led Frank and me to come up with the phrase, “Kristin don’t care!”

Being laid-back can be not so good: Kristin hated going to class. She could find any excuse to skip: a pretty day, a riveting story-line on One Life to Live, difficulty getting out from under the comfy blue plaid comforter. Oh, and if you decide you want to ask her out on a date cause you liked her pic on my blog (and hey, she’s a good catch), she may call you back, she may not. It’s not that she doesn’t like you. She’s just, like I said, really laid-back.

Okay, so why do we call her Papasan? Well, I’ve lived with Kristin in various times in my life (actually, five different places if you count the sorority house!) and one of those times I was working at the newspaper in Austin. I worked with this guy Gerard and I would always tell him about my roommates, Kristin and Kim. I guess I must have mentioned that Kristin was really “laid-back” and I would always find her relaxing in our Papasan chair. He couldn’t remember their names so he just referred to her as Papasan. He also called Kim “The Matrix” but that’s another blog. He’d say, “How’s Papasan?” So the name stuck.

When I moved and took the Papasan chair with me, Kristin had no choice but to get out of it and get to class. So now I’m happy to report that our little Papasan is in nursing school, studying (and regularly attending classes) to help save lives. I think she’s just in it for the scrubs, though. Hello? Could you get a more laid-back uniform?

Notice how Kristin's trying to squeeze Kimmy and me off of her beloved Papasan.