Never Ever Dull
With every conversation, I always seem to end with "Never a dull moment"....our lives are rich, complex, and beautiful stories. Join me in laughing about everyday things and appreciating life-bumpy roads and all.
My Oldest received the following message from one of her three roommates: "I've got 3 more things I'm bringing: a record player, a Keurig, and a Tupperware bowl." And that pretty much sums it up. You see, my daughter is now settling into her first home since college. After a very thorough search, she and her NC State roommies landed an incredible location in Nashville: adorable home with a loft, walking distance to trendy restaurants, and live music only a hop, skip, and jump away. Sounds ideal for these recent graduates, huh? Only one little problem: they each brought what they could fit in their hand-me-down sedan-type cars. Example: My Oldest arrived to her new empty abode with clothing, one sheet set, some towels, her guitar, her violin, her ukulele, her banjo, her harmonica, her Eno, and her Chacos. The other girls had similar "essentials". On Day 10, my Oldest sent me a text stating that her back was really beginning to hurt and that she may have injured a disc. What should she do? Hmmmm....not too much thinking to answer that one: buy a bed. She had been sleeping with just her sheet set on hardwood floors for almost two weeks. My Oldest spent the next week researching, pricing, working the system with the sales associates at every mattress store she went to. It became a game and she was determined to win at getting the absolute best price. I received texts: full or twin? pillow top or Euro? do I really need box springs? I guess you need to know a bit of background about my family: none of us like to spend money. This definitely played out with my Oldest. She ended up getting a great deal on a mattress, opted out of buying a box spring and built a platform out of "free" wooden pallets (tip for those diy project people: it's important to clean those pallets you find outside of warehouses in those sketchy parts of town...and if you can find a friend who owns a truck, that would save you at least 8 trips to that sketchy part of town) My Oldest now is sleeping on her hipster looking bed with layers of wooden pallets and appreciating that investment of a mattress. All good? Well....last week, she learned that her car has a transmission problem. Cost? $2,571.10 What?!?!. (and does that additional 10 cents really matter?) Translation: Time for the Oldest to shop for another set of wheels. If it took her a month to negotiate and finally purchase a mattress, what's it going to be like as she begins this hunt for a car? Always never ever dull.
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"Eeeewwww. Banks smells!" That's how I was greeted as I walked into my home. It was true. He smelled. It was awful. Banks is the kind of puppy who loves to be right there with us. Everywhere. In the middle of the kitchen while we cook, on the sofa while we watch a movie, in the bathroom while we...You get the picture. So, when one of my peoples realized that Banks had evidently rolled around in something that was truly not something he should be rolling around in, we had to do something. I asked my oldest son to clean him up with some cosmetic wipes that I had in my bathroom. I figured those would be gentle and would leave our favorite furry pet with a sweet lingering aroma. Easy and simple. (A bath would have been the best option but Banks is not too keen on those and I didn't want to wrestle with him and end up looking like Chewbacca.) An hour or so later, I asked my son if he ever got those cosmetic wipes. They're hard to find being tucked away in my baskets in the drawers of my bathroom. I probably should have gotten them for him. But he surprised me and said he had taken care of the problem. I asked if he had trouble finding those things in my bathroom. He looked up from his cell and said he found them in our kitchen. Huh? He had used Chlorox wipes. I now am the proud owner of the most sanitized canine with a hint of lemon. "Not again!" My Friday morning got jump started when I found a screw in my rear tire. I've become an expert at this. My neighborhood is undergoing revitalization...4 flats in a year. This one is really not convenient: I need to be on the road to fetch the Blonde from the NC mountains...in an hour. I call and head over to my second home, the gas station/repair shop situated on the edge of my neighborhood. I know the guys, a pair of brothers, that I can't tell apart. I simply call them "Daryl and his brother, Daryl" from some 80's sitcom show that I don't remember really. My last visit about two weeks ago was the most memorable trip. I parked the Tank and handed over my keys for an oil change and tire rotation. Unfortunately, a big ol' 18 wheeler rolled in and parked right behind me and began fueling the underground tanks at the station. I noticed this about the same time one of the Daryls did. Ugh! I was stuck. My quick 30 minute job wouldn't even start for another 45 minutes. Again, I'm supposed to be on the road (this time to Charlotte). I settle into my red vinyl chair. One Daryl fixes some food. My tummy rumbles and I lurch to hold on to it as if that will really make a difference. The Daryl asks if I've had breakfast. I say "no" and he offers to fix me breakfast while I wait. It was quite tasty. I've never had a bacon sandwich using hamburger buns. I don't mind. My stomach is silenced. As I wait, I listen to the conversations. A man hands off his keys and tries to mimic the sounds his wife heard when she was driving the car. "She says it happens when she goes uphill, stops, and turns right. It makes a "wwwhhhhhirrrr" sound." Daryl asks if it's more of a "wheeeee" sound. No, it's definitely a "wwwwhrrrrr" sound according the the wife. Another man walks in and shares the sound his vehicle is making according to his wife. I begin to realize all these women must have bionic ears. I look at Daryl and see his intentional empathetic looks. But I notice a sparkle too. I think he's having fun making these customers repeat these sounds over and over. The Daryls definitely have a sense of humor. They try to overcharge me for dry cleaning fees. They say when I walk in they feel the need to wear tuxedos to fix my car. Thus an additional fee is in order. The Daryls are great. Where else can you go to get your car fixed, enjoy some humorous bantering, and get the best bacon sandwich in town? There still are really good people out there and I happened to find them at my gas station. Last week, I shared how I met my new friend through Match.com and I had a lot of people talking about how funny that was. I could see my blog numbers spike. I was really surprised since that's "normal" for me....I thought I'd give a little bit more history of my friend-making stories:
Flash & Glen-Flash and I met at Caswell, a camp along the NC coast. Instant friends. She was Flash, I was Smash (bike wreck!), and another friend was Crash. Pretty normal...but it gets waaaay better. Flash and I taught in Charlotte and decided to road trip to D.C. for a summer weekend getaway. We hit major traffic and sat on 95 with the windows down. Along came a car with two guys with their windows down. I took the dare and started a conversation. They were on their way to Georgetown just like us! We all became friends, but Flash said she liked the dark haired one. They are now married. 26 years of friendship. Cynthia-She bumped into a tree branch as she was walking down the sidewalk. Like Whamo! right in the forehead. I couldn't hold back and commented, "You've got to hate it when the branches jump right at you." She laughed. Friends for 25 years. She's been at the birth of each of my kiddos and wanted to travel to Kazakhstan with me when I adopted. Been through the up's and down's of life together in real raw ways. Mary Len-After that bike wreck mentioned above, Mary Len came to share my camp cleaning duties since my zygomatic bone (aka cheekbone) was fractured. I couldn't talk much and begged people not to make me laugh because it hurt so much. But that didn't stop her. From there, we went on to be roommates at Chapel Thrill, in Charlotte, and forever friends. 30 years. And this stuff still happens today. I guess that's why I was perplexed when people commented on that Match.com blog. So what's a crazy start-of-a-friendship story that you have? I'd love to hear it =) All my Tennessee friends are back in school. Sigh. Commercials and morning news shows are giving the low-down on what's needed for kids as they head back. Wal-Mart employees stock supplies on shelves in a frenzy. Target hangs their big colorful signs shaped like pencils from the ceiling pointing to the direction of school-supply-heaven. And I cringe. Seriously, I bury my head like an ostrich and pretend this isn't happening. I have boycotted Wal-Mart and Target for the last 3 weeks so I don't have to be reminded that my summer is coming to an end. Why am I like this? I have no idea because I'm a teacher! I've been in this teaching gig ever since I left Chapel Thrill. I know my schooling: public, private, home school, tutorials, community college, large universities. Done it all. Yet, I am reluctant and procrastinate until I absolutely have to grab all our supplies. But I am changing. Last week, I realized more than ever that for me is about relationships. I checked my email late one evening. I had just received one from the father of one of my former students. He was writing me as he sat in a chair by his wife's hospital bed....I read it: diagnosis...cancer...surgery... and wept a big ugly cry, startling Banks and the boys. It's like that for me. No, I don't always get emails from men who are in hospitals...but I do find that I really come to love families after spending 7 hours a day with their children. I celebrate new siblings, blue ribbons and trophies, and new furry family members. I'm in the trenches with them too-loss of furry family members, divorce, abuse, loss of grandparents, and re-location decisions. That email was a game changer for me. Not only because of what was written but because I realized how deeply I care for the people I have in my life. I had reached out to this family when my Blonde worked through a tragedy at her camp because they knew what I should do...now they are reaching out as they travel on life's bumpy roads. Yes, I'll miss my flexible schedule of summer, filling up time with things I want to do. Yet, I see how important it is to pour into people wherever you are planted. So wherever you go and whoever you work with, remember to embrace those relationships. You never know...one day, you may need them or they may need you. So many boxes were checked off my mental what-I-want checklist from his profile and as I communicated with him: tall, good looking, double boarded medical doctor, loving father, and church planter. I eagerly awaited our first meeting, Actually, I was incredibly nervous. But things didn't turn out as I expected. I did meet a great match for me, but my story is not what you're thinking. Here goes: About twenty minutes into our meal at my favorite Mexican restaurant, I touched my forehead to see if I had a post-it note stating: "Please confess and share everything about yourself". He confessed...a lot. Do I look like a priest-nun person? I knew this date was only going south as the minutes passed. Meanwhile, I munched on my chips and spicy guacamole, taking in his story and feeling like Dr. Phil. When he seemed cleansed and done with that, next came sharing time. He shared about his ex and how wonderful she is, how sweet she is, what a dedicated mom she is to their kids, how she was a loving wife, how she is a godly woman. Get the picture? I felt like I needed to build a museum in her honor. He mentioned that he was puzzled why she had gotten another golden retriever puppy. That's when It all clicked. Could it be? A couple of months prior to this big meeting, I had lunch with a random meet-up group. The woman who sat beside me was wonderful, sweet, dedicated to her children, and recently gotten a golden retriever puppy. We laughed and realized we had much in common including being puppy lovers. She pulled out her cell and showed a cool slow-motion video her son had created of her puppy playing in the snow. There was an instant bond of friendship. I walked away from that lunch chatting with her all the way to the parking lot...but never got her name. I was bummed. I had really thought the two of us could be best friends. Back to the dreamy-date-going-south. I wondered...then I blurted it out, "Did she happen to take a video of her puppy in the snow?" So random! I'm blowing this "date" but at this point, I knew he was definitely not my Match. He looked a bit surprised and responded, "Yea...actually, I think my son took some cool video of the puppy." What are the odds? Later, I connected some dots and called my sister-in-law. She connected more dots. Within days, I had my golden retriever friend's name and number. But what do I do next? You can't just start a conversation: "Hey, do you remember me? I'd like to be your friend. By the way, I got your name because I went out with your ex."....Yikes. This whole thing seemed ridiculous, but ... I did send her a text. She remembered me and was excited to reconnect.. We met at Panera and I kept nodding my head as she shared tidbits about herself. (I already knew much of her life due to the confession/sharing session with her ex.) I listened but couldn't hold back...I told her how I figured out her name. I looked at her, her jaw dropped... and we both laughed at the craziness of this whole situation. We've been great friends ever since. Seriously. We hang out once a week and send texts back and forth all the time. She really is sweet, wonderful, and a very dedicated mom. Yes, it's hilarious to watch people's expressions as they hear the abbreviated version of our friendship: "....Amy went out with my ex..." Not your typical way to find your friend! So , I may not have found that Match that I was wishing for, but I found my new friend who matches me perfectly. I |
AuthorFun-loving mom to 4 kids and 1 big puppy. Fifth grade teacher of amazing little people who have never ending things to share with me. Love to discuss Jesus, diy projects, and life. Trying to keep it simple: Love Jesus, love people. Archives
December 2021
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