Surrender Dorothy

I have not one but TWO friends named Dorothy. Amazing? Perhaps not. Pretty cool, and even unusual? Maybe. Before meeting the Dorothies, my only exposure to the name was via the movie, The Wizard of Oz.

One day as I was riding around on the lawn mower as a teenager, my sister and mother put a sign up in the dining room window that said 'Surrender Dorothy.' The joke being that I was the Wicked Witch of the West riding around on my broom stick. I must have been particularly evil to them that day. They were both cackling from the window while I chuckled from the seat of the lawn mower. I remember throwing back my head and cackling while randomly circling the yard, you know, just to put on a show.

I met my first 'real' Dorothy at Camp Cherith in western NY. She was a camp counselor nicknamed 'Teddy'. Dorothy is me squared. She's loud, she's fun and she's fabulous. We nicknamed eachother 'Pamela' after Baywatch star Pamela Anderson. We life guarded together at the pool. We still use the name in the occasional correspondence. (Coincidentally, we both married men named Jeff).

My second Dorothy is 10 years my senior and a mentor. She's short, she's fun and she's also fabulous! Dor was Jeff's youth group leader, and now she's a teacher and world traveller. There is always a party around either of the Dorothies. They don't know eachother, but they have both been teachers at some phase of their lives and my dear friends. I wish they did know eachother. There would be much to say.

So that's my story. Do you know a Dorothy? Do you think you know my Dorothies?