The hits just keep on coming (AM)

J and I have been friends for a long time now. Years and years and years. I think 22 years or something. Is that right? It's something like that.* It's a long time. It's not enough, but it's a long time.

There were many things that bonded us together in those early days. That our houses were literally across the road from one another. That we both loved the album Kick by INXS. That the film Hairspray is great, can be watched a million times and the soundtrack has got a good beat and you can dance to it. The song Maxwell's Silver Hammer...that was another one. By the time hunks came along, the glue had well and truly set. 

But though it's been many years since I bonded with J something happened on Saturday night that made it happen all over again.

While watching the footy, we saw an ad for some probiotic choc ball you can get these days, to help restore the levels of good flora in your gut. I wondered out loud how one would know whether one's good gut flora had become depleted to the point that it required restoration via a choc ball.

"Oh you know" J said "I guess you feel bloated or something?".

I could tell from the way she said it that she wasn't convinced of this. I decided to tell her something I have never told anyone before. 

"Mate...I don't know what feeling bloated feels like."

It's true. I don't. I know what eating too much feels like. I know what feeling 'fat' feels like. But bloated seems like a different thing and I don't know if I feel it. Every time I see an ad trying to sell me some product that will relieve my bloating I just sigh and gaze out the window. 

J leapt up. 

"Mate, me neither!" 

It seems that J had been in the same boat as me for yonks, only we'd never spoken about it before. A burst of excited babbling followed, in which we exchanged confessions about what it's like to live in a world where everyone knows what it's like to be bloated but us. The sweet relief of finally being understood!

It was a special moment, and made me think if J wasn't already my BFF, I would really want her to be my BFF. 

*We can actually figure this out...Mondonna once told me there is footage of me lurking about in the background of some home video from when Frandonna was a newborn baby, so we've known one another at least as long as Frandonna has been alive. And I know for a fact that there are people who read this blog who can tell us how long that has been.