Enough About Me, Part I
Most of y'all have known me for a long time and know that I'm a private person. It's strange that I have voluntarily decided to document my family's life in a public way - 1) because my life is pretty boring 2) because I'm typically more of a listener than a talker and 3) because I've never really shared what I've written with other people, so sharing it with the interweb feels a little odd.
In light of all that, in light of my dislike of being "front and center" at basically any point in time, I think it's only fair that we turn the tables a bit.
Let's do a little BooMama Who's Who, why don't we? I'll start from childhood and work my way forward...let's see if I can get two of these done before Alex gets out of the tub (side note: about 10 minutes ago, around 12:30, Alex looked at me and said, "Mama, I want to get in the tub." I have no idea why, but I'll take it. Maybe he had that not-so-fresh feeling). For the time being I'll focus on friends, not family - in the interest of brevity, of course. If you see typos just ignore them - I'M ON A DEADLINE, PEOPLE - that water can't stay warm forever!
1) Laura - Laura and I have literally known each other since we were babies. I'm six months older, and those are the only six months during which we have not been in each other's company. Because I was a grade ahead, I always took on the "older and wiser" role, because really, when you're in sixth grade, there is LOTS that you can teach the people in fifth grade. But Lou got married first, had babies first, and she's been teaching me a thing or two ever since.
She and her hubby are about to move into a be-yoooo-tee-ful new home in their Lovely Planned Residential Suburban Community, and she is the least stressed-out person I've ever seen in an about-to-move situation. She's also smart as a whip - graduated from undergraduate and graduate school with a 4.0. (We will not be discussing my GPA in this blog. Ever.) It's always encouraging for me to talk to Laura (as I do at least twice a week) because she is one of the most upbeat people I know in terms of "spurring me on" to being a godly wife and mama. She worked for a year after her first child was born but has had the opportunity to stay home ever since, and I have never heard her complain - not even one time - about the frustrations that can arise when you're home with young'uns all day, every day. She loves her current line of work - teaching and training her two sweet children - and she does a mighty fine job at it, I might add.
I cannot wait to tell her children about...the time she was 11 and decided, when her mother got out of the car to open the garage door, to help her mother by pulling the car into the garage, and as a result pinned her mother between the car and the garage door. This story is made even more entertaining by the fact that when Laura's mother, understandably shaken from the experience, sat down to have a glass of wine to calm her nerves, Laura's daddy went to the store and bought Laura a new purse - he felt that sorry for her. Laura's mother remarked that if Laura had done away with her altogether, she most certainly would have received a Polo shirt.
2) Liz - I met Liz in junior high school, but I didn't really get to know her until we much more mature and sophisticated tenth graders. We have the same sense of humor...we spent many high school afternoons watching tapes of "Moonlighting" and "The Sweeney Sisters" from SNL. Liz shares my love of Southern fiction, and since we were both English majors (in undergrad and graduate school), we always had lots of interesting literature to discuss. Usually, though, we just talked about tv.
I think that Liz is the least judgmental person I've ever known (and by that I don't mean that the rest of y'all just sit around and JUDGE JUDGE JUDGE). But those of you know Liz understand what I mean. She's not a "live and let live" person at all - she has a strong, deep sense of right and wrong - but she's incredibly respectful of other people's decisions, of the idea that other people's views might not match up with hers. When David and I left the Episcopal church a few years ago, I was a little worried about telling Liz because she's Episcopalian, and I didn't want her to think that we were on some crazy religious trip. Anyway, I finally told her, and I'll never forget what she said: "Isn't it great that there are churches out there for everyone? Isn't it great that y'all have found a place where you feel at home?" It makes me teary-eyed even thinking about it right now. David and I had agonized so much over what to do, over what people would think, and at that particular point in time, Liz's words were, for me, God's grace in action. I will never forget that.
I cannot wait to tell her children about...when Liz (who is a great mother, in all seriousness) was desperate to come over here for a girls' weekend about two years ago, but she couldn't find a babysitter for Friday afternoon. She called all her regular people, but no one could help her, so finally Merritt got involved and said, "Hey, I know someone." Liz called that girl, who couldn't babysit, but the girl said, "You know, my friend might be able to help you." So Liz called the friend's friend, who she didn't know from Adam's housecat, and when the COMPLETE STRANGER said, "Yes ma'am, I can babysit," Liz said, "GREAT! Let me give you directions." She was in Birmingham by 4 that afternoon.
Bath time is over...to be continued...and you may be next. :-)
In light of all that, in light of my dislike of being "front and center" at basically any point in time, I think it's only fair that we turn the tables a bit.
Let's do a little BooMama Who's Who, why don't we? I'll start from childhood and work my way forward...let's see if I can get two of these done before Alex gets out of the tub (side note: about 10 minutes ago, around 12:30, Alex looked at me and said, "Mama, I want to get in the tub." I have no idea why, but I'll take it. Maybe he had that not-so-fresh feeling). For the time being I'll focus on friends, not family - in the interest of brevity, of course. If you see typos just ignore them - I'M ON A DEADLINE, PEOPLE - that water can't stay warm forever!
1) Laura - Laura and I have literally known each other since we were babies. I'm six months older, and those are the only six months during which we have not been in each other's company. Because I was a grade ahead, I always took on the "older and wiser" role, because really, when you're in sixth grade, there is LOTS that you can teach the people in fifth grade. But Lou got married first, had babies first, and she's been teaching me a thing or two ever since.
She and her hubby are about to move into a be-yoooo-tee-ful new home in their Lovely Planned Residential Suburban Community, and she is the least stressed-out person I've ever seen in an about-to-move situation. She's also smart as a whip - graduated from undergraduate and graduate school with a 4.0. (We will not be discussing my GPA in this blog. Ever.) It's always encouraging for me to talk to Laura (as I do at least twice a week) because she is one of the most upbeat people I know in terms of "spurring me on" to being a godly wife and mama. She worked for a year after her first child was born but has had the opportunity to stay home ever since, and I have never heard her complain - not even one time - about the frustrations that can arise when you're home with young'uns all day, every day. She loves her current line of work - teaching and training her two sweet children - and she does a mighty fine job at it, I might add.
I cannot wait to tell her children about...the time she was 11 and decided, when her mother got out of the car to open the garage door, to help her mother by pulling the car into the garage, and as a result pinned her mother between the car and the garage door. This story is made even more entertaining by the fact that when Laura's mother, understandably shaken from the experience, sat down to have a glass of wine to calm her nerves, Laura's daddy went to the store and bought Laura a new purse - he felt that sorry for her. Laura's mother remarked that if Laura had done away with her altogether, she most certainly would have received a Polo shirt.
2) Liz - I met Liz in junior high school, but I didn't really get to know her until we much more mature and sophisticated tenth graders. We have the same sense of humor...we spent many high school afternoons watching tapes of "Moonlighting" and "The Sweeney Sisters" from SNL. Liz shares my love of Southern fiction, and since we were both English majors (in undergrad and graduate school), we always had lots of interesting literature to discuss. Usually, though, we just talked about tv.
I think that Liz is the least judgmental person I've ever known (and by that I don't mean that the rest of y'all just sit around and JUDGE JUDGE JUDGE). But those of you know Liz understand what I mean. She's not a "live and let live" person at all - she has a strong, deep sense of right and wrong - but she's incredibly respectful of other people's decisions, of the idea that other people's views might not match up with hers. When David and I left the Episcopal church a few years ago, I was a little worried about telling Liz because she's Episcopalian, and I didn't want her to think that we were on some crazy religious trip. Anyway, I finally told her, and I'll never forget what she said: "Isn't it great that there are churches out there for everyone? Isn't it great that y'all have found a place where you feel at home?" It makes me teary-eyed even thinking about it right now. David and I had agonized so much over what to do, over what people would think, and at that particular point in time, Liz's words were, for me, God's grace in action. I will never forget that.
I cannot wait to tell her children about...when Liz (who is a great mother, in all seriousness) was desperate to come over here for a girls' weekend about two years ago, but she couldn't find a babysitter for Friday afternoon. She called all her regular people, but no one could help her, so finally Merritt got involved and said, "Hey, I know someone." Liz called that girl, who couldn't babysit, but the girl said, "You know, my friend might be able to help you." So Liz called the friend's friend, who she didn't know from Adam's housecat, and when the COMPLETE STRANGER said, "Yes ma'am, I can babysit," Liz said, "GREAT! Let me give you directions." She was in Birmingham by 4 that afternoon.
Bath time is over...to be continued...and you may be next. :-)
posted by boomama at 2/20/2006 01:45:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home