Blogging Block

I did something tonight I haven't yet had to do . . . I resorted to a prompt to come up with something to write about, and I'm so glad I did!

How did you meet . . . .

Michelle. She's the best thing I got out of my college career. We met while we were attending SVC. When I first saw her, she had her hair pulled back slick and tight, wearing a perfect white and black Nike outfit, head to toe, and perfectly polished make up. She screamed big city girl, and I was just this little hick from the sticks. She was tall, slender, and seemingly glamorous.

At the time, I worked in the bookstore, and my hours didn't allow me to get dinner. We had another mutual friend, Cait, and I had asked Cait to bring me a sandwich. Well, Michelle fixed it. I didn't know that you can screw up PB&J, but Msh put butter on it. Ugh! Still, it was memorable . . . very much so.

Later on, one evening when we were just hanging out, chatting, I mentioned about something in my past. She was sitting on the top bunk, and I remember her flipping down onto my bed. "You did WHAT?" I don't even remember what that "what" was, but I do remember at that moment realizing that we might have had more in common than we thought. It was on from there . . .

We discovered that we had attended the same school out west, at the same time, and even attended the same functions, we just never met. In fact, we both dated the same guy! That summer when leaving for school, I was not happy to be leaving my new friend behind. She asked if I knew where Tryon, NC was, since that was where she was going to be for the summer. Errr, YEAH! About 20 minutes from my house! That summer, she had Wed. nights off, so I would come home from work, go straight to bed, so I could get up later and spend time with her. Dad finally banned us from playing Taboo on the same team, because we're so in sync, we don't have to really talk, to talk.

My senior year of college, I got one of those calls. The kind that no one ever wants to get. Come home now, Dad said. Bring Michelle. I didn't realize how bad it was until he said that. For 5 hours, as we drove from VA to NC, we both talked about anything and everything, knowing that bad stuff was happening. She held me together through helping to write an obituary, calling friends and family, and then the remaining time in college. I know this - I wouldn't have made it without her.

Fast forward a decade or so. When I went to visit her a few years back, I got in her vehicle. This big city girl now had an inch of dust inside her vehicle (she's into horses - forgive her), and Waylon Jennings in the CD player. I urged her to come back . . .she had gone too far to the other side!

Now, I'm the one that's putting on heels and make-up every day to go play nice with my clients. She's happily married, with her adorable baby, and running her non-profit. Every time I think about her, I realize how blessed I am to have her in my life. She's the first person I want to call when something good, bad, or comical comes up. We've been through so many life events - births, marriages, death, accidents, broken hearts, and I wouldn't change a single second of it for anything. It's been pure joy to watch her blossom into a successful career woman, loving wife, and glowing mother. I wonder if she knows - she's my person.

Weekend Update

Ahh, what a weekend. The kind that comes about very rarely, and I love - the three day kind! I took Friday off to go to an Equine Assisted Psychotherapy training. Yes, I know I'm crazy, but I went to see what it was all about, since that's what one of my best friends does for a living. And you know the most frustrating part? Every so often, when I would have one of those "a-ha" moments, there's Msh, with her mouth smirking and her eyebrows raised. Yes, Michelle, you were right. Those are the worst words I ever have to say to her! Some of the things I learned. "Men and Dogs respond to the same things: Praise, Recognition, and Pork Chops." Seriously, I actually learned some other things. Like, I'm a goal/deadline oriented person. Give me a job, leave me alone, let me do it. I don't like to pussy-foot around, I want to jump in, and I get aggravated/frustrated when there's a lot of "chatter". I also tend to say the same thing over and over, even if it's not getting the task accomplished, so I need to figure out a different way to communicate when the first try doesn't work. Also, be ok with other solutions. Yeah, it might not have been how I would have liked to see something done, but did it work? It was a great day, and I'd highly recommend it for anyone looking for additional insight, and/or teambuilding.

The rest of the weekend went well, also. Racing, racing, and more racing! The first race of the season for the dirt track, and it went amazingly smooth. Race-ceivers are the way! Sunday I re-discovered that bribery works all kinds of wonders with kids, and then came home and baked cakes. Walked with my puppy, then visited the Ramsey house for the most yummy eating. A quick trip to Bedford to return one car and pick up my poor Honda completed my weekend. The Honda is dying - so I'm hoping it holds together until I can get my other car back from M&D. At least I got to see Annette some!

And, let's just finish on another quote that's been tumbling around in my head:

"Slow to trust, but quick to love - I push to hard and I give too much"
"I ain't sayin' I'm perfect, but I promise I'm worth it"

Can you name that song?

Me and Msh - Pictures of the two of us are getting harder and harder to come by!

This is a problem

Now, don't get me wrong. I love animals, all kinds. I have a bird feeder, and in the wintertime, I put food out for the squirrels. Britney loves to watch them, and I do as well. I am all for all kinds of birds. I even have a little bird bath thing. But. I have these hanging flowers that I can NOT get to bloom again. (remember . . . me, black thumb). When I lived at my other house these same plants bloomed like crazy but not so much now. I've Miracle Gro-sticked them, kept them nice and moist, let them dry out, I don't know what else to try! I have noticed, however, that the birds have decided that since they are high up and rather sheltered, that they are GREAT places to have a nest. Every couple of nights, I go through, and pull out the OLD nests. I'm sorry, but birds are messy, and I do NOT need that on my front porch! Trees, yes. Flower pots, no. This morning, I pulled them down to check on them, and find THIS!

I can be pretty insensitive at times, but even I don't have the heart to throw out potential babies!!! I think they're just sparrow eggs, but still! The one egg is in a spot where I threw the nest out last night. Mama must have gone on and laid the egg this morning anyway!

Speaking of babies. I was talking to Msh this morning, and getting the update on how she's feeling. Part way through the conversation, she tells me, "I think I'm allergic to the bunny." "Well, throw it out then!" I was thinking she had a stuffed bunny of some kind. Nope. She proceeds to tell me how she was helping H. put up hay, when she saw a large black snake with a wriggly belly. It was eating a family of baby bunnies! So, H. scooped up the last one, and deposited it on Msh's lap. She took it home, and has it in a basket. Has had it for about a week now, and been bottle feeding it. She said it's really cute, and is trying to figure out how to eat grass. I see a new member of her family, if she can keep it away from the 4 dogs!

Msh

I've mentioned Msh in passing before, but I think you ought to hear a bit of the back story on her. First of all, she is one of my most-bestest friends ever. She and I met in 1997 when we both attended SVU. When I first saw her, she was roommates with a girl that was, shall we say, a little unbalanced, and I initially felt so bad for her! Later, when I actually met her, she kind of scared me. See, I'm a simple girl from Western NC, and she SCREAMED high fashion. You know, the perfectly coordinated outfits, with the "right" hair, the "right" look. Not a whole lot in common. One evening, she and another girl took pity on me since I was working at the bookstore and would miss dinner. She fixed me a PB&J sandwich. Did you know that it IS possible to mess that up? I thought she had poisoned me! Who in the world puts butter on a PB&J sandwich? Evidently, she did! Said it was to keep the jelly from coming through the bread. Yeah. Ok. Whatever! Anyway. One evening, we were sitting around talking, and I guess I surprised her with some of my escapades, and it's been on ever since! She knew how much I loved country music, and would allow me one country CD each road trip! Fast forward to last year, when I got in her 4 Runner, and she's listening to Merle Haggard. Honey, come BACK from the edge . . . you've gone too far!

Anyway, the first summer after college, I was worried about what I would do without Msh around. She said, "Do you know where ___ is? I'm going to be a camp counselor there this year." Uh, yeah, it's about 20 minutes from my house!!! After we graduated from college, neither one of us really wanted to move out or on. Brad had died, so I didn't want to go back to NC, and she was ok where she was. Eventually, she got married, and moved back to DC, but no matter what, we've been there for each other.

However, life goes on, things change. She is now pregnant and due the first of August. Whoa. That changes life up some! I'm still so excited for her though . . . and I'll get to spoil that kid rotten!!! Msh has the most awesome sense of humor. Quirky, fun, and always a great voice of reason for me. And, she doesn't mind when I get stuck on one subject and that train keeps going 'round and 'round in my head! What about you? How did you meet your best friend? How long have you been friends? Any great stories you want to share?

Babies Eat Brain Cells

Did you know this? It's something I had heard, but didn't believe. Then, the following conversation w/Msh.

"And then when I was taking Diesel's stitches out . . ."

"Do what? Stitches? From what?"

"I told you . . . where he had the cancer cut off."

"You never told me about any cancer. What cancer? Where?"

"You know, that growth I told you about down THERE. He has Penile Cancer"

"You did NOT tell me about that."

And, you get the idea. The point is, Msh and I know just about everything about each other. I know that she cleaned her bathroom in between her sick episodes. I know that she likes to slice black olives onto her nachos. I know that she puts butter on her PB&J. How the heck did I NOT know that her horse has cancer?!?!? I realize I'm forgetful, and that I lose small moments of coversation, but that? That I would have remembered!!! Too funny. We're going to blame it on the baby.

Kristin, a girl that I work with, just had a beautiful baby boy, Carter, this past September. She had her baby moments as well, but I think my favorite was this one. She stopped to get gas one morning before coming in. It was one of those pay before you pump kind of places, and she went in, got a drink, paid for her gas, and drove off. Got 1/2 way to work trying to figure out why the "gas" light hadn't gone out yet. She then had to go back, get her gas, THEN come to work. Again, blame the baby . . .

This weekend was B O R I N G. Did I mention boring? I watched more movies this weekend than I have for the past year. But, OK, ok, Transformers was an awesome movie. I remember playing with those when I was young, so I didn't expect a whole lot out of this, and I was amazed. Disappointed with Spider-Man 3, Deja Vu was OK. But, race season starts this coming Saturday, so that means no more slow time for me!!! How does that go? Let's go RACING!!!

Journal Entry #2

Last night we were called out for a MVC. I hop into Squad 32 with Mike driving, and off we go. Wait . . . let me back up. As I was clammoring into my turn out gear, my jeans got pulled up into the leg of the coveralls. Adam was running past, so I grabbed him and asked, "Hey, pull my pants down." Dur. Open mouth, insert foot. Anyway, we got on scene of what was supposed to be a tractor trailer wreck, and it's a regular ole' car. Ok, fine and dandy, but they had this dog with them. Now, I have a REALLY soft spot for animals, and I couldn't STAND to see him there looking so pitiful! I know Mike's going to give me a hard time, but I just had to at least cover his crate up so he could stay a little warm! Don't know if it did the puppy a bit of good, but at least it made me feel better to try!

It's a gray, drizzly day here, so I'm finding something to do. Why not another journal entry?

"Have you had a driving ticket? What did you do?"

I've had a few, but there's only onesthat really stands out. The first was when I was first at SVU. Now, I didn't have a car, so I hadn't driven in B.V. yet. Msh asked me to run down and drop some movies off. Off I went, and on the way back, I got pulled over. Now, I know that in most towns, the speed limit is 35, so I was at about 37. NOWHERE between the school and MovieStarz, is a limit posted. Oh, it's 25 MPH, by the way. So, I go to court. I ask the judge if I could plead "No Lo Contendre" or however it is you spell that. "Yes, if you can tell me what it means". Uhhh, I think it means that I'm not saying I did it, but I'm not saying I didn't do it either. He agreed, and let me off with just paying court costs.

The other time, driving the same car, but this time, Michelle was with me. We were on our way back from Lexington, and it was a GORGEOUS spring day. You know, the kind where it's finally warm enough to have the windows down, the music was up, lots of sunshine, and you don't have a care in the world? Those days are amazing. I FLEW past the State Trooper. About 75 in a 55. He didn't even have to hit the blue lights, I pulled over! As he came up, I was laughing and handing him documents. "Yup, I was speeding." He got such a kick out of everything he let me go! Ahh, Tazz. He was such a good car. Many happy memories involved there. "Don't hit the garage door!" "Really, I can drive" "Oh, we gotta go, NOW!"

Journal Entry

Ok, so I've been running into some writers block lately. My life is great, but can get routine, and I'm sure it gets, well, not as exciting to read about. I mean, you can't possibly be interested in a Skills Drill that I passed, right? Nothing exciting there. So, I have this little book, "How To Write Your History", and it has questions that you then answer. I figured I might as well give it a shot today.

First one. Describe your first home or apartment on your own. Welllll, first one "on my own" would be when I took off for Ricks College in Rexburg Idaho. I stayed at Aspen Village, and I chose Aspen for one reason. Ok, maybe two. #1, they had an indoor, heated pool. Keep in mind, this was Idaho. That equals COLD. Plus, I swam all through high school, and love to be in/near/around water. #2, it was as co-ed as Ricks went. Meaning, MY building was all female, but all the other buildings were male. Hmmmmm, good odds there. (I later had a roommate who introduced me to this smoking hot, blond, blue eyed RM who also lived in AV that set my heart on fire, but I'll save that for another time!) I started in the summer, so my first apartment was very temporary. These buildings were cinder block construction, with economy blue/gray carpet. I was on the second floor, and as you came in, there was a kitchen table, and then the living room on the left. Kitchen was to the right, but when I say kitchen, it was TINY. Head back through the hallway, and bedroom on the left, bathroom on the right. My bedroom was in the back on the right. I did have roommates initially, but Becky is the only one I can remember. She was awesome! She really introduced me to a lot that Rexburg had to offer, and also taught me that it really is OK to go grocery shopping in your pajamas . . . as long as they are cute PJ's. That summer was awesome - if the whole year had been like that, Rexburg might have had a whole different outcome. I remember lots of little snippets: Bridge jumping, rolling in the sand dunes, playing on the waterslide, Dave fixing my bike for me.

Dave, now, he was an interesting character. Thought he had all the *right* credentials, RM, tall, blond, smart, and he took me out several times. We sat on the hill overlooking the town on the Fourth. He kissed me, it was magic. Wow. Spectacular. Could he have been THE ONE?!?!?! Next morning when he came by, he told me that he just couldn't see me anymore. Huh? Do what? Wait, where did I go wrong?? He then tells me that he just couldn't be with a girl who didn't have "Higher Personal Standards". Ok, then why the heck did you TRY to kiss me? "Because a woman who is truly pure would not have let me." That was my first introduction to the screwed up mentality that existed. Now, fast forward 7 years, and I meet this chick at Southern Virginia who initially scared the daylights out of me. She was all fashion model-esque, and I was about as country casual as it gets. Turns out, we had a few things in common. We had both gone to Ricks, but she lived at Harmony House. We really started talking one night when she took pity on me and fixed me a PB&J because I had to work over the time the cafeteria was open. I took one bite and was CONVINCED that she had tried to poison me. Who puts BUTTER on a PB&J? Anyway, we got to talking, and it turns out that SHE went out with this Dave character as well!!! Quite a game he was playing. Oh, and this girls name? Michelle. :-)

Back to the apartment. After everyone moved out prior to fall semester, my other roommate had these 2 birds that she couldn't take with her, so I took them. I figured, they're birds. How hard can they be to take care of? Ha. Ha. Ha. I let them out in the bathroom while I cleaned their cage, and then could NOT get them back in! I had to get one of my FHE brothers to come over and catch them for me! I quickly found new homes for them after that.

I suppose it's true - after enough time, there are only fond memories left. I love my memories of that year - every single daggone one of 'em.