Real Friends

I am thankful for my real friends.  I know you all probably have at least one of your own.  He or she is that friend who loves you day in and day out no matter what.  You can share all of your secrets with them, laugh until you cry, dance with them like no one is watching, cry the ugly cry, tell the truth, never wear a game face, count on them to be there before you ask …  You get the picture. 

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

from The Velveteen Rabbit

I am so very thankful for my real friends.  If this made you think of someone, drop them a note or give them a call.  Real friends are a treasure.

Blog Title

I have been thinking about the title of this blog lately.  I have also been thinking about a lot of things I would like to say out loud, but have refrained from doing so.  Well, I just can’t keep some of these things to myself anymore, so here it goes …

• You should not tell a pregnant woman she is getting fat.  She might fire back with a question about when your baby is due and that would be very awkward since you are indeed fat, not pregnant.
• You should not ask a pregnant woman personal questions that are absolutely none of your business!  Examples of these types of questions would be “do you plan to breastfeed?” and “how was your trip to the doctor?  anything going on down there?”  Seriously folks – none of your business!
• Women who have never been pregnant should not comment daily about how pregnant someone looks from day to day.  An example “I can tell you are starting to look pregnant now.  Before I wasn’t even sure you were pregnant.”  Trust me, you do not have to “look” pregnant to be pregnant.  Is there a universal pregnancy “look”?
• When you ask me how I feel or how I am doing, please don’t look so disappointed when you hear I am fine.  I really am fine.  I’m not going to launch into long stories and give you details for you to share with people I don’t know about a pregnant woman you know.
• Was it a mistake?  Was this a surprise? 

This is not to say I have not had some awesome love and support from people – but that is another topic.

Finally, (well finally for this entry anyway) I have heard a couple of things that I did not find offensive.  One man – a brand new Father – said “You look great.  Your baby is really growing, I know that’s exciting”.   Another man – (a man in his 70s) asked about my other children.  When I told him I had a 13 year old, he said “Long time between martinis”.  Cracked me up!

Beware

Beware ladies … your hair has memory!  That’s right – memory.  I know this because the “Master Stylist” who cut my hair last week told me so.  She explained to me at what point between wet and dry my hair started to gain “memory”.  This really explains a lot of my bad hair days.  They all must be directly related to the memories of the summer between 4th and 5th grade when my hair was halfway down my back and I got it cut to the shoulders.  The other possibilities are : the 7th grade Rave home perm, the 9th grade curly perm, or maybe the haircut and peroxide job I did on my hair right before taking senior pictures.  And, if all of those hairstyles didn’t fill the “memory”, I am sure the hair dryers, hot rollers, and crimping irons of the 80s did!  Let’s not forget the products used!  I actually used a hairspray called Stiff Stuff. 

Beware ladies … your hair has memory … and mine is holding a grudge!!!

John and Maggy Dobbs

It’s amazing how you can get to know someone through a blog without really knowing them.  I have corresponded with John Dobbs a few times through email and blog comments and count him as a friend.  I have listened to his pod-casts and read his blog about 4-5 times per week  I am amazed by his service and love. 

My heart was broken last week when I read his post about losing John Robert.  My heart goes out to John and Maggy and I find myself profoundly sad even though I have never met any of them in person.  There are no words.  I know many people have said that over and over, but I am at a loss for words.  I have tried to send a message conveying my sympathy in an email several times, but have absolutely no idea what to say.

Praying for you and your family John. 

Together or Separate?

Yesterday, I enjoyed my first day off in 14 days.  I can’t say I was very productive, but I can say it was relaxing and fun.  Scotty had the day off too, so we decided to go out to lunch.  The first place we drove to was closed.  Very closed.  The sign on the door informed us it had been closed since March 23rd.  Bummer.  We were already near LSU, so we decided to stay in that area.  We chose one of my Dad’s favorite places to eat in BR.  It took an unusually long time to get two burgers, but what did I care?  I had the day off!  We enjoyed both the food and our time together.  We were laughing and talking the whole time.  Imagine my surprise when the waitress came to clear the table and asked if we would like separate checks!  (Were we having too much fun to appear be married to each other?) 

Birthday Surprises

Well, it finally happened.  I turned forty this past Sunday.  My sister gave me a surprise birthday party last Saturday night.  It was good to spend time with friends and family and I was overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity.  My sister went above and beyond to give me a very special evening and I enjoyed every minute of it. 

A week before my birthday, I received a surprise gift from my family.  A digital camera!  I have had my eye on one for about three years and I am so excited to have it. 

Considering the fact that we are expecting a baby boy in September, I guess you might say that my 40th year is the year of surprises!

All of my friends who are already forty, or forty-something tell me that they are having way more fun in their 40s than they ever had in their 20s or 30s.  I’m not too sure about that.  I just think maybe misery loves company 🙂 

We are busy during this time of the year.  School is almost out, soccer try outs are right around the corner and camp registrations  are already coming in.  The youth banquet is in a couple of weeks and so is the soccer end of the year party.  I have to take two business trips before the week of camp and I have already attended two of the three conferences that I have scheduled.  WHEW!  I think 41 will be here before I know it …

Well, it’s about time

I think it’s about time for me to post something new.  Since my last post, my beautiful daughter turned 13, experienced her first winter formal, got a little more aggressive on the soccer field and scored a game winning goal.  Scotty started a new job on February 4th and we celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary on February 27th.  My Dad came for a visit (we love that his visits are more frequent now).  March was full of traveling to different parts of MS for soccer tournaments. 

When I sat down to write this post, I had a lot more to say.  I just had not decided how I wanted to say it.  So, in a nutshell, Chelsea is 13, soccer still keeps us busy,  I have been happily married for 20 years … oh, and we’re expecting a baby boy on September 2nd.

What’s going on with you?

Singing Strangers

A couple of nights ago I was in the store grabbing some last minute things for supper.  An old, familiar song came over the speaker and I started to half sing, half hum quietly.  I’m browsing the shelves, singing and  minding my own business. I turn and head up the next aisle and that is when I hear it.  The man at the end of the aisle is also singing the song.  As I get closer to him he does not back off of his song or shy away from singing out loud.  Hmm.  What the heck?  I continue to sing too.  So here we are, looking for gravy mix and singing a duet.  We turn and go our separate ways, but I am sure we both sang the song until the end.  Isn’t there something strange about singing strangers?

Livin’ On A Prayer

 If you know me, you know I love music.  You also know I listen to a few things I wouldn’t let Chelsea listen to (Meatloaf, for example).  I know people have different musical tastes and as long as I don’t have to listen to Helmut Lotti, I’m OK if you do.   I’m not OK if you are not considerate about it.  I have an iPod and I don’t force you to listen to Bon Jovi, Meatloaf, Dr. Hook, Billy Joel, John Cougar or the B-52s (yes, all on my iPod).  Which brings me to the reason for this post.  

We attended a soccer game a couple of weeks ago and heard the raunchiest music ever.  The home team had an entire hour of trashy, foul language warm up music.  One of their team members climbed up to the press-box and palyed it for all of the world to hear.  It was so loud we couldn’t talk and the words were so filthy I can’t repeat them. 

After talking to some other soccer parents, I found out that this school was one of two private, Christian schools in town blasting this junk during warm up.  Now I know there are other songs out there.  Why can’t they use the theme from Rocky?  Or Eye of the Tiger?  I asked Chelsea if she had any ideas for warm up songs and after considering her team’s record, she said …

Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer”.     That’s my girl !!! 

Resolutions …

My resolutions this year:

Lamentations 3:40 – “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.”

I Timothy 6:11 “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.”

Happy New Year!

II Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”