Two Old Ladies

Millie and Gladys are two ladies very near and dear to my heart. The problem is, they don't really exist. You see, the duo started as a joke between my friend, Carol, and I a couple of years ago. Into our msn homepages we pasted in fake pictures of some eccentric looking old ladies and soon enough we were creating profiles to fit. The joke stuck and the two old ladies became alter egos of sorts. Their personalities began to take on stories of their own, made up as they may be: how Millie would call Gladys from a pay phone, claiming to be God, asking if she'd found her yet; how Gladys liked to take a walk down memory lane and always brought back a souvenir or two; how a good friendship evolves, so that only the strongest bits are left.

They were born of a time when my sense of humour bordered manic; when I was fond of excusing my outlandish behaviour with the phrase, "I have a lot of emotion that just needs to come out" followed by hysterical fits of giggling. This is also when, I have discovered, when my laugh changed from a quiet sort to a huge guffaw, one that could be heard for miles around. Millie is the woman I hope I will one day be. She is strong and has a wicked sense of humour. Maybe not everyone understands her, but they can clearly see how good her intentions are by her actions. Her friend Gladys is how I see my own friend. And like us, Gladys and Millie have weathered their fair share of stormy weather.

How do I know so much of two ficticious women? Well, I've written a story or two about them. Within the lines I've woven a bit of myself and a bit of Carol. It's a story that took me nearly two years to finish, as Carol and I were not in a good place for awhile. It seems that Millie and Gladys ran deeper than I first suspected, as I couldn't imagine a strong friendship between them, until we had re-established our own.

One day, Carol and I will look back and laugh about it. It was a story for the ages, she will say. I will roll my eyes and mock her. She will carry on about the days of our youth and I will remind her that part of our youth was firmly embedded in the days of two old ladies, near and dear to our hearts.