I'm Carrie... momma, wife, mismatch sock wearer, Special Education teacher, author, doodler, idea Sharer, inspiration junkie and learning enthusiast! I think life and learning are HECK AWESOME!
“Really? Sunday?! I don’t know,” he said with a deep sigh “Our Sunday is already so packed busy and there’s football. I’d miss it! “
“That’s okay. I talked to my friend and she said we can move it ourselves,” I replied confidently.
Sunday came along I was ready to do it all by myself.
“I’m coming with you,” he insisted. “I want to make sure you can drive that truck.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ve driven U-Haul moving truck before. I can do it,” I insisted back giving him the stare…you know… the I’m serious about this stare because…
I could do it all by myself!
“Ok, I’m still coming with you,” he said like he knew something I didn’t.
“Ok. If you really think you need to!” I answered.
We picked up the moving truck from the local U-Haul. It was big but not too big. I was confident that I could drive it myself. So what if it was raining cats and dogs. So what if I had to take the highway to get to my friends house. So what if I could only use the side mirrors to change lanes and couldn’t check my blind spots.
I was going to do it all by myself!
Satisfied that I would be okay driving the truck (or done arguing with me about what I can and cannot do) he followed me in the car to my friends house.
I managed to make it to my friends house without running anybody off the road, cutting anybody off, having to slam on the brakes, or causing any crashes…and I didn’t get lost! Win Win Win!!
See I could do it myself!
Safe and sound at my friends house I could hardly wait to get it onto the truck and get it home.
“It doesn’t look too heavy,” I say with a smile looking up to see my husband give me the are you freakin’ kidding me look?!
An easy push down the short entryway to the front door, through the front door and over the first step…
“That wasn’t too bad!” I said smiling, “It was easy.”
We could have totally done this all by ourselves.
“Easy???” My husband said as sweat drips from his forehead.
“Maybe he lifted it more than I thought,” I considered for a second… “nahhhhhhh”
Down the second step my husband gives me another…seriously you really got this look… followed up with an I’m the real muscle here Carrie gaze. I ignored him and kept pulling it down the sidewalk pathway toward the truck.
We could have totally done this all by ourselves.
Up steep ramp that it just barely fit up and almost fell off of.
On to the truck.
Secured in the truck.
Another 30 miles to our house.
As we backed the truck in our driveway, I remembered the ramp it would barely fit down, looked at the pathway to our front door, saw the two stairs up to our front doorway and was suddenly giddily relieved to see our neighbor pull in his driveway and over joyed when he asked if he could help because…
I still write in my about me section of any of my bios…
“Three years ago my friend thought it would be a great idea to start a blog together. With a deep breath and fear that all the weirdos in the world would start stalking me or come to my house and kidnap my children we started blogging together and Laverne was born…”
That single moment when I took a deep breath and hit the publish key as Laverne for the first time still brings back a flood of deep emotion. Looking back and remembering becoming Laverne, the memories of stories shared in this space and the discovery of words and the voice they have given me brings tears to my eyes. Being Laverne gave me an anonymity that I needed as a I met new people, built my confidence and eventually found a voice I never knew I had. As many of my long time friends in this space know, over the past six months that voice and your support also gave me the courage to start a second blog as me the Special Education teacher and change from sharing just as Laverne on social media to sharing as Carrie, teacher, mom, wife and just me.
Knowing all this….it is with a heavy heart and tears in my eyes (yes I am a blubbering mess) that I am sharing this with you today. Today marks the end of Laverne. The end of this amazing journey behind this name that has for three years given me the much needed anonymity I have needed to share and find my voice. This will be my last post as Laverne. The last time a post is seen under the header of akaLaverne. From this point forward as I meet people in the blogging world or twittersphere there will be only a few close dear friends that will ever remember me as Laverne and remember my journey.
{blubbering mess here}
It is with a heavy heart and tons and tons and tons of indecisiveness and lots and lots and lots of conversations with Abby(god bless her for her ability to text and chat incessantly about this topic as I spew and ramble on and on about this change) and my husband (this amazing man rallies behind me and supports my decisions and choices, helps me see the good choices and the ooooo thats not such a good idea ideas) most of all they both said it’s time….
GO FOR IT!!!!
{anyone got a tissue….still blubbering here}
soooooo it is with a heavy heart that today I say good by to akaLaverne.
BUT saying good bye to Laverne does not mean you are saying good bye to me!
Starting next week (what!? a girl needs some time to get her new place ready) I am joining my two passions. I am joining my love for writing, drawing, creating and sharing with my passion for Special education, learning, empowering students and showing others what children can do when we think differently! Next week all of this will become….
carriebaughcum.com
I can not wait to share with all of you this new space.
I can not wait to have one fantastic space to share all of my passions.
I can’t wait for this new adventure to begin!!!
Just when I thought not in a million gazzillion years would I ever blog. Just when I thought not in a million gazzillion years would I ever have the courage to blog by myself without my friend…on my very own blog. Just when I thought not in a gazzillion million years would I ever ever ever share anything about being a teacher or write about what I do in my classroom. Just when I thought not in a million gazillion years would I ever be me…the real me on social media and just when I thought not in a million gazzillion years would I ever step out from behind the name Laverne and write as me….me Carrie….
Well it has been over a month now since I attended BlogHer13 and this post is ohhhhh about a week late and I missed one of my four blog posts I had planned…but oh man life just took off and I was treading water…akaNoTimeToWrite. Things have settled down now and I am not exactly floating along with a mini umbrella, fruit embellished drink in hand but I’m not gasping for air as my arms flail like a mad women just trying to keep from sinking.
So lets do this!
The last of my Talking to Strangers BlogHer 13 posts number three in a four three part series!
I had no expectations and no real goals for what I was going to accomplish when I headed to BlogHer13. I was happy that way. Going into a hugmongous conference I didn’t want any pressure on myself. I knew the size of the conference, the number of bloggers there and the experience would be enough pressure. As usual, I had no idea how much I would learn about myself!
Besides being knocked over the head by life with amazing lessons about myself and even with those two very moving experiences…Talking to Strangers: BlogHer13 A New Inner Beauty and Talking to Strangers: BlogHer13 Table of One(one would think that those would be enough) I found my days…and nights (BlogHer seriously is NON-stop) filled with fantastic random lessons from old friends and new ones too.
I give you…
I learned that now that I have met Kirsten from the Kir Corner and Mel from According to Mags I can not longer read their blog posts without reading them in a strong Boston / New York accent. Also, Mel texts with an accent too!
I learned I could just sit on a couch, on a beach, on a park bench and just…be with Kirsten. Her warmth and genuineness and heart is as wonderful as you would expect! Just being with her makes you happy!
I learned you never know who you are going to meet or what they are going to teach you. Joanne from Tiniest Tiger and Rachel from Preston Speaks taught me that no matter how much you know or how successful you are people are willing to take time to talk to you, get to know you and share what they know with you.
I learned to never underestimate where your greatest lessons are going to come from… one of my BIGGEST lessons came from Joanne and Rachel. I never in a gazillion years would have guessed or predicted that I would learn so very much from two amazingly fantastic bloggers who share their stories about their pets.
I learned that lessons can come from girl talk and a couch in the middle of the Verizon section at the Expo. Jackie from a With Just a Little Bit of Magic laid back style and years of motherhood experience taught me that I need to keep embracing Olivia for exactly who she is and there are many different ways and activities that our children can do to teach them what we want them to learn. Sometimes our way is not the only way…just go with it!
I learned that I can run farther then I thought I could. Running the 5k along the Chicago lake front gave me a pace I never knew I had. The pace to take me farther then just a 5k. A pace that didn’t leave me sucking wind or doubled over with wobbly legs. A pace that would take me on more and more runs, farther and farther, that would make running…fun!
I learned that friends I have met through blogging are just as amazing as a I thought they would be. The journeys I have taken with many of these woman on their blogs has all been worth it. That the relationships we have built in this space are just as important to them as they are to me. That the connections in this space can become in real life friendships.
I learned that I am a vault of Random SHtuff… from facts and tidbits (TONS of facts and tidbits) about people I have chatted with on twitter to random bits of information about bloggers to ooohhh she writes “this or that” blog to ooo ooo ooo have you seen this new app or this new piece of technology that will do this or this or that on social media. Kim was never left moment that wasn’t filled with random information awesomeness overload (Think Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada when she is at the big event dishing facts about people Meryl Streep is meeting….yeah!)
FFFWWWEEEFFFF!!! I learned a lot!
BlogHer13 was an amazing event full of amazing strangers. Some of them were strangers I had met through blogging that were friends. Some of them were strangers I knew through twitter that I now got to meet in real life and some of them were strangers I had never known before. Each moment of this event filled me with lessons and reminders about myself and this amazing place we call the blogosphere!
I sit snuggled up under the blankets, coffee cup in one hand, one finger peck typing a post with the other. This is my last day. This is my last day of summer.
My summers have changed over the years from the one before kids supplied with endless me time and no schedule to follow to the exhausting ones when my daughters were young to the ones now full of activity, play and jam packed memories.
My summers as an educator have been equally as different. Some have been spent full of creating, making new lessons, building new units, others have been quiet with little time spent on anything school, still others have been spent packed full of summer projects and working with peers on projects.
None of those summers have been quite like this one.
I had no goals going into this summer, no projects to work on, no summer projects to work on, no extra meetings to attend and yet as I look back on my summer, never before have I collected, soaked up, +Evernote ‘d, pinned, talked to other educators, collaborated and learned SO MUCH!
From…
Information flowed in on +Twitter and +Google+ supplying me with links, pictures, ideas, news and resources to
Pinterest decorated my screen with resources, activities and strategies to
+Google+ Communities offered me an opportunity to share what I had learned with others and see what others were trying to
+Google Hangouts Hangouts transported me to a world of online education as I watched, participated, shared, was inspired and learned from the +The EdReach Network to
I even went to +Edmodocon in my pajamas. I listened to amazing teachers share their tools, techniques, strategies, ideas via live video and tweeted ideas I liked, how they inspired me and “talked” to teachers from around the country about it …
As I head back into the classroom I am more inspired and filled then ever before.
I am inspired to take more risks, push more limits, bring even more awesomeness out of my students and share even more about what students can do with technology. I am filled with ideas, eager to try them as they dangle and wait teasing me….try me, try me.
I am just so excited that I am filled with an energy and eagerness that I just can’t help but stand up from my seat, make a fist, pump it and shout from the top of my lung…”Lets Do This!!!!”
My “Lets Do This” List for 2013-2014
(ideas, strategies, tools I can wait to try)
Use +Subtext to differentiate and improve accessibility
Use +Flipboard to make projects, to collect, share and organize information
Improve my students use of +Edmodo
Create an +Edmodo group to share classroom going ons with parents that ALL parents are a member of
Hold 3-4 “Technology for Parents” Sessions this school year
Pair up with 1-2 staff members this year: show them the awesomeness of some of these tools, help them see how they can use them in their classrooms and work with them to implement them in their classrooms
Develop/Find consistent tool that is available for daily drill and practice of basic skills my students need consistent practice
Implement 20% Time (Genius Hour) in my Language Arts class
Continue to be an almost completely paperless classroom
Increase and improve communication with the teaching assistants I work with through simple to use, efficient technology (not sure what that is yet?!)
Once upon a time there were two little girls. One was a little sister and one was a big sister.
“Who’s up for ice cream?” The little sister shouted.
And the big sister said, ” OOO OOO! Lets go to the ice cream parlor.”
They were all going to the ice cream parlor.
“Lets go in and have some ice cream,” the big sister said.
“OOO OOO I want strawberry ice cream said the little sister!” Said the little sister
The big sister said,” I want chocolate ice cream.”
The little sister shouted, ” Lets sit down and eat our ice cream!”
They were having fun eating their ice cream. The little sister thought, why don’t we go to the park. So the big sister said,” Why not little sis.”
They walked to the park. When they got there they had fun and played. When it was dinner time they went home to eat and they said,” why don’t we go to the ice cream parlor again tomorrow!” The little sister said,” yeeppie yeeppie!” The little sister thought it was a great idea.
So they went back to the ice parlor the next day. They got four ice creams. There was one for the little sisters mom and one for the little sisters dad. the little sister and the big sister had their own ice cream to eat too. The whole enjoyed the ice cream!
The End
Mommy Disclaimer….All the words and the ideas are completely Francine’s. I only helped with the typing, formatting, spelling and with Photoshopping the pictures. By writing her stories Francine hopes that other “kids” will learn to cook up ideas just like her!
The hall where we were going to eat the first day was HUGE. So HUGE the energy fills you up, but too many tables to scan to find a familiar face or even new friends we had met and it leaves you linking…oh my lawrdy!
“Ok,” I smile and breath in deep summoning bravery to meet another new person.
We were trying to stretch out our comfort zones so we each sat on one side of her, not able to rely only on each other. We introduced ourselves. We made small talk. She was just finishing up her lunch and waiting for an appointment. Her gaze into the empty space in front of her told me her mind was somewhere else, preparing for what was to come. Soon two lovely women with big warm, smiles and a midwestern vibe sat next to us. Their smiles invited us into the conversation. It really was impossible not to talk to them. Then as quickly as they could share where they were from blogging worked it’s magic in just the way it it does unveiling that Kim, Dawn and Cathy were from exactly the same area, minutes away from each other to be exact.
“Can I sit here?” a voice comes from my left.
I look up to see young woman with a friendly and a laid back warmth.
“Sure” “Yes!” “Sit”, come from all the ladies at the table.
She sat.
We ate.
I checked to see what Kim was doing and smiled as she as she laughed and talked with the two women she had connected with.
“So how do you like BlogHer so far,”the young woman asked.
I told her about the two sessions I had been to, the energy and all the wonderful people we had met so far.
“What about you?” I asked hoping to learn more about her.
“I’m here representing a company, Find & Save. I don’t actually have a blog but after all these amazing stories I’ve heard here, it makes me want to start one,” she finishes with a smile and a long pause.
“Blogging is one of the most amazing things I have done. It has giving me a voice I never knew I had. It allowed me to meet and get to know the most fantastic woman. It’s incredible!”
“Oh I don’t know,” she answered looking down her food.
I pause and think maybe you overdid it. My passion is thick…or maybe just maybe that isn’t a look of no, but look I don’t know.
I smile at her and softly say, “You know you can be whoever you want online (and I shared my story). You can be and talk about whatever you want.”
“I don’t know,” she says.
“Start by writing about something simple… a trip to the park and then keep writing until you find your stories, your own voice.”.
We finish our food and it is time for Kim and me to leave.
My thoughts pause for a second…I wonder?! Should I?? So I take a deep breath and smile at her again, get up from my chair and walk over to her.
Kneeling down next to where she is sitting I look up to her and say, “Email me if you have any questions at all. How to get started, how to set up things, anything. I would love to help you with any questions you have. I mean it!” I smile again.
Taking the escalator down to the buses I smile at Kim.
“I’m ready. I’m going to do it! I was talking to that woman about starting a blog. It energizes me. It reminded me…again…. how much I love creating for others, talking to and working with someone until I am able to take their vision, mold it, bring the best out of them and make it oozz and shout who they are. I love it!!” I tell Kim (she listens, smiles and nods with a familiar duh! Laverne…I already knew that. Happy you could finally join me).
From that table of one a brand new confidence was found (I know…another…I can’t help it!). With a portfolio I am proud of, experience that makes me confident in what I can create, the nudge (who am I kidding it a full on shove) of several dear friends and that single conversation I am finally going to do it! I am going to open my very own Estys shop and really make my graphic designing a business. So with another reason to hold my head a little higher and my shoulders back a little stronger I am slowly working toward the goal of having the shop up and running by the beginning of the year.
My husband barely stopped the car as I jumped out of the it at American Airlines terminal three. I could hardly stand to surprise her by meeting her to help her with her bags. I really couldn’t stand waiting to hug her and see her for real…in real life…standing in front of me! I walked through the electric doors and scanned the baggage claim for baggage claim nine. There it was. There she was. Jeans, long hair and a cute top. Was that her? Should I sneak up behind her and squeeze her, because did I say I could hardly stand the wait. What if it wasn’t her? Also, do I really want to freak her out, the woman is going to spend four days in a hotel room with me. I walked toward her and just as I was deciding to or not to surprise her from behind I turned to the right and spied a striking red haired, caribbean sea blue eyed beauty… GEEEEEEEE! KIM! KIM! {Hug} {Hug} {Hug} {Hug} {Hug} {Hug} I had finally, finally after two years (or is it three…I lost count) of getting to know her, learning from her, admiring her strength and growing with her during her blog facelift journey and then texting and FaceTime friendship…my goodness I was finally meeting her!!!!
From that moment on two woman with a love for talking without waiting for a breath were each others wing woman, cheerleaders, the uhuh in each others extroverted problem solving session. Our days at BlogHer were part local foods and enjoying local beer, part attending inspiring, go for it, dream big, take big risks sessions and part napping (seriously after amazing days and night of parties parties, then talking until 1 AM…2 AM…talking until we can’t stay awake anymore it’s exhausting!)
Putting the finishing touches on my eye liner I stopped to make sure my line was smooth and a reflection caught my attention. The sparkle of my favorite sparkle top I wore. I smiled. I added the finishing touches to my eyeliner and put on my lipstick. I stepped back to take a look at myself and smiled again. I was ready for a fashion show. I sat on my bed as Kim finished blow drying her hair. This was our last night of BlogHer and still, even after all that we had done and learned together I had no idea the biggest lessons I would learn at BlogHer would come at the Fashion Show and the simplest words.
Decked out in our sparkle tops, our favorite pants and heels as high as we could stand for the night (trying to wear cute, trendy foot wear and stand all night… it hurts! Bad!) We sat four rows back, giddy about our good seats and about the fashion show. In between my spew of the random shhtuff I know (long story…I’ll explain later) about bloggers we saw, tweets, giggles, Kim’s night at the Roxbury sideways head bobs to the music playing and one of my hundreds of “You know Kim…I think I…” she leaned toward me, smiled and whispered softly looking me right in the eyes, “It’s always been there. You just believe it now.”
Days of learning to hold my head high and my shoulders back…
Days of learning (forcing myself) to make eye contact with strangers and smile…
Days of taking deep breaths and having conversations (wonderful ones…yes, another story) with strangers and not puking or dying in in nerves or failure…
Days of working on owning who I was and what made me me…
Days of talking to her non-stop (shut up! I told you I talked a lot but seriously Kim did a damn good job of keeping up… that girl can talk too!!!) being embraced for all of me…
…allowed me to finally truly love me and all the beauty I have inside.
So as I adjust to real life again and my BlogHer hangover has passed I find that ! have changed. I carry myself differently. My shoulder go back a little more when I walk, I make eye contact and smile at strangers and friends more then before, instead of shying away from conversations I jump in knowing I have something to offer and I walk a little taller.
All because a friend reminded me that “it” was always there!
I’ve been talking to strangers for a long time here. It is no mystery to me the impact people I have met in this space and in social media have had on my life….treasured and unforgettable. On Wednesday July 24th2013 I headed to the largest blogging conference in the world. Suddenly many of the strangers that are friends would suddenly become real people (they’ve always been real people…now they’d be here in front of me in the flesh), in real life. Suddenly, I would be surrounded by other bloggers I know from their twitter or Facebook picture or from a post I read in passing. Suddenly, I would be surrounded by a whole heck of a lot of strangers! In real life stranger!
I have struggled to write my recap of BlogHer…hello it’s been three days…five days…oh my lawrdy too many days and I had nothing. Sure I had plenty of ideas floating around in my head but I could not come up with a way to tell you about it all without a long, very long, very very long post that was certain to leave you…zzzzz. So while I brainstormed and wrote rough drafts of my post (aka chat on twitter, catch up on others on Facebook, heart other fun fabulous pics on Instagram) I was suddenly inspired. Who said my recap had to be just one post? Did it have to be a recap? Did it have to be just one post and then a wise friend’s words found me…”because I’m the boss that’s why” and well because I do thing better when I do things my way!
Starting next Tuesday and then every Tuesday for the next three weeks I will be Talking to Strangers Laverne style…
Tuesday #1: Discovering A New Inner Beauty
Tuesday #2: A Table of One
Tuesday #3: A Cat, A Dog, A Pitch… Oh My
Tuesday #4: Random Shtuff I Learned
I hope you will join me the next four Tuesdays to hear the story behind each Talking to Strangers moment at BlogHer 2013!
In less then two weeks thousands of blogging gals will invade Chicago. So of them are girlfriends, some of them I know of, others I admire from afar and others are strangers. For one weekend they will all be bloggy girlfriends here in my city (I’m actually a Chicago suburbs girl) and here are the places, eats and attactions I would do with each of them to give them of Chicago during the short time they are here.
Simply move your curser over the map to see all of my recommendations marked as hearts. Then move your curser over a heart and see the name and a clickable link to the website for each of my recommendations……
I hope these simple, unfancified, completely Chicago places to eat, see and things to do give you a great Chicago experience!
“I suppose I should actually get out of bed,” I thought.
This summer brought a magical gift. A gift I had only dreamed of. A gift I thought would never be bestowed on me….the gift of children that sleep in. Yep! It was 9:30am and both my girls were still asleep. Feeling a bit guilty for staying in bed that long and wasting so much of the morning (seriously I get to sleep in but now I have to feel guilty for sleeping in. this whole motherhood thing is exhausting) I rolled out of bed.
“Ahhhh coffee,” I smiled as I walked into the kitchen and turned on the coffee maker.
The first cup always seems to be the best. As I went to get the creamier out of the refrigerator I paused and remembered that my dad (he lives with us) was at Habitat for Humanity working on a house all day (his hobby…isnt that cool). That meant he put Kona out in the backyard (Kona is my sisters dog. She comes to stay with us for a week each summer when my sister is on vacation). Lazily, I peeked out of the kitchen curtain to see if she was on the backyard porch.
“Huh?! No Kona. Maybe she’s still downstairs,” I thought “but I could have sworn I heard my dad leave this morning. He wouldn’t leave her downstairs by herself.”
Opening the basement door I called, “KOOONNNNAAA come here girl!”
Nothing.
I walked down the basement stairs to double check that she really was not there. At the bottom of the stairs I look and look…no Kona.
“Maybe she’s out in the yard and just wasn’t laying on the porch,” I think trying to figure out where the heck she could be.
Back upstairs I go right the kitchen sliding glass door. I open it and bend to look out. No sign of Kona.
“KOOONNNAAAA! ”
Nothing.
Scanning the yard for her my eyes stop….the gate…it’s open. Panic floods me. Just last night my neighbor and I (during our weekly True Blood viewing session) were talking about how she had lost one of her dogs when it jumped her brothers fence while he watched her dog while she was on vacation. My heart sank.
Oh My GAWWDDDDD Kona is not in the yard!!!
I ran upstairs waking the girls.
“Kona is missing! Wake up! We have to go find her! Go potty and come down stairs we have to start looking for her!” I say delivering orders as I run back downstairs.
I turn to see Olivia walking down the stairs, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and sporting her usual bed head.
Olivia, “Go open the garage door and look around out front. See if you see Kona.” Inside I secretly hope that she will open the garage door and find Kona sitting there just waiting for us to see her.
Rushing back in the house, “Mom! She’s not there! I don’t see her anywhere!”
Fighting back the tears and the emotion that is going to make me completely lose thoughts start to flood me…
My sister had trusted me to watch her dog. How is my sister ever going to trust me to watch her baby if I can’t keep her dog safe? My sister had trusted me. Kona was my responsibility. Oh my gawd Kona is missing. Kona is gone!
I call my neighbor.
“Kona is missing. She is not in the yard!” I say though heaving breaths.
“Ok. I’ll text friends in the neighborhood. We are awake and well get out there too to look for her,” she offers without hesitating.
“GIRLS!! Time to go! Get in the car!” I shout.
In the car I finally lose it. Thoughts continue to fill my head.
Whispering at me, making it all real…”She’s lost. I lost my sisters dog. We are never going to find her. How will I face my sister. Oh my gawd how will I live with myself.”
Closing the door of the car I turn to Olivia and Francine trying to take deep breaths between the blubbering messy sobbing tears. I manage to get out my words, “Roll down your window. I am going to drive very very slow. You need to shout as loud as you can for Kona and you need to look everywhere on your side of the car. Don’t miss anything, in front of the house, the side of the house, everywhere on your side.”
“Ok mommy,” they say softly with big, wide eyes focused on me.
Breathing in and out I try to regain control of my emotions as we begin our search.
“KONNNAAAA…KOONNNNAAAA…KONNNNNAAAAA!!!!”
First street done. Nothing. “We are never going to find her. This is going to be impossible. She’s gone. Who knows how long she’s been out of the yard. It could have been hours,” negativity start to invade my thoughts again.
We start down the next block.
“KKKOONNNNAAAAA… KONNNAAAAAAA!!!!!”
Suddenly a tall slender gray-haired man appears in the street waving his arm over his head back and forth.
“Is he waving at me?… He’s waving at me!… He’s waving at me!!!!!”
I roll down the passenger window and say to him, “We are looking for our dog Kona. She is lost.”
“I have Kona,” he smiles, “She’s in my backyard,” he smiles holding his coffee cup.
Getting out of the car I am suddenly giddy. I fight back happy tears as I realize have no shoes on, I am in my pajama t-shirt and comfy shorts and oh my…my hair.
“I saw her this morning,” he explained pausing to noticing I have no shoes on,” and I didn’t recognize her so I called her over. She came right to me. She’s just been hanging out in the back yard. She’s had a couple of treats.”
“Thank you! Thank you sooooo much!!!! I can’t thank you enough,” I blubber in shock that we found her..he found her.
“Thank you again. Thank you,” I repeat dying to give him a hug and sob my thanks into his shoulder (don’t worry I resisted that urge.I didn’t totally want to freak out the guy).
Over come by happiness I smile as I take Kona to the car and put her in. I turn to him and say, “Are you a drinking man?”
“Aren’t we all!” he smiles.
“What’s your drink of choice?”
“Coors Light”
Hundreds of deep breaths later and all of us resting at home, I sit down next to my girls on the couch.
“Olivia turn the TV off Mommy wants to talk to you. Come sit by me.”
“Ok Mommy!”
“Girls Look at mommy. What that man did for us was incredibly kind. He stopped and took Kona in so that he could help someone. He did that to be nice for someone else. You know when mommy asks you to be polite to other people, when I tell you how important it is to pay attention to others and be thoughtful to others?”
“Yes mommy.”
“Mommy feels very soooo very much that when you are a good person, when you are kind to others good things happen to you and others will do nice things for you when you need them. Do you understand?”
“We do mommy,” they say in unison with a nod that tells me they really do.
That night, with a case of Coors Light on a kitchen chair next to me, I sat and wrote a thank you card to the man as a tears ran down my cheeks. I thanked the man for not only giving us our Kona back but for showing my daughters that there are really truly good people out there, good people who will help complete strangers because it is the kind, thoughtful and nice thing to do and that I still could not thank him enough.
The sun warmed my skin. The weather finally decided it might actually start to feel like summer. I tool off my flip flops and let my toes settle into the grass. Looking down to my left Olivia squints, smiles and looks up at me.
“How’s the blanket? Are you comfy?”
“Yep! Comfy mom! How much longer until the game is over?”
“It just started Olivia,” I answer.
“Can I go play at the park?” she asks.
“No, we are here to see your sisters soccer game. You need to stay and watch.”
“Finnnneee!!!” she says as if she is practicing being fifteen.
“LET’S GO FRANCINE!!!! GOOOOOO USA!!!!!” I cheer. “FRANCINE GET THE BALL!!’ GOOD KICK JOHN!!! WHAT A PASS MAGGIE!!! WOOO HOOO!!”
“Sighhhh,” I turn to my right and look at my husband. He looks at the field pretending not to notice I’m looking at him. So I pretend not to notice he’s ignoring me looking at him.
“GOOD TEAMMMMM WORK USA!!!” I root.
“KICK IT TO EMILY…errr MOLLY,” I shout… oops! Hope no one heard me get the name wrong.
“Sighhhh,” I hear it again. So I turn and look at my husband. He looks at the field pretending not to notice I’m looking at him.
“I wonder how long he’s going to keep this up?” I think.
So I pretend not to notice he’s ignoring me looking at him.
“THAT’S IT FRANCINE. NICE DEFENCES TEAM USA! YEEEEEAAAAAH TEAM USA! WAY TO GOOOOOOO!!!!!!”
“RUN RUN RUN FRANCINE GET THE BALL!!! GREAT JOB MARK. GREAT KICK MOLLY,” ooooo I got her name right that time. “GOOOOO USA!!!!” I shout and clap.
“NICE KICK JOHN! GOOOOOOO JOHN! GOOOO GOOOO GOOOO! FRANCINE GET TO THE BALL!”
“Sighhhh,” I hear again! I turn to my right and look at my husband again. YEP! He looks at the field pretending not to notice I’m looking at him.
“OK! What’s with the sighing?” I say to him.
“Nothing,” he says with a let me pretend it’s nothing but really it’s something smug on his face.
“No really! What is it!!” I say with a seriously tell me look. “What is it! Tell me.”
“You’re so loud,” he answers honestly.
“Other people cheer to ya know!”
“No they don’t,” he replies like he’s right.
“Yes, they do. Besides, I like to cheer. I get excited for the team and well…. I like to cheer for Francine.”
“Sometimes you get the names wrong,” he kindly adds.
“Yeah, hmmmmm ya heard that huh?! Well I still like to cheer.”
“sigggghhhhhhh,” he replies.
“Should I stop?” I think. And begin to think some more, “I really don’t want to make him unhappy. I also don’t want to be annoying or obnoxous. I REALLY don’t think I cheer THAT much more then anyone else. Pishaw, he doesn’t know! Plus, I like cheering for Francine and besides that’s what fans do! I seriously can’t help myself.”
Then I decided…
“Gooooo Francine!!! Run, run! Get up the field,” I whisper.
“Nice kick Marc! Get it! Get it!” I whisper again.
“WAYYYYYY TO GO USA!!!! GREAT DEFENSE!!!!” I cheer proudly.
Looking to my left I smile at Olivia. “Want to come sit up here with momma?” I smile.
“Sure,” she answers with a shoulder shrug added so it looks like she’ll only enjoy it a bit.
“GOOOOOOO FRANCINE! RUN RUN!! GET T…” I catch my hubs looking at me out of the corner of my eye.
I smile.
“Olivia, mommy cheers really loud! If you sit with me mommy be ready for cheering. Mommy likes to cheer A LOT!”
“Yeah you might go deaf,” my hubs pipes in.
I look at him and smile through grinding teeth. Olivia looks at me and smiles.
“You might have to cover your ears if you sit with me,” I say looking at her.
“Yeah momma {giggle giggle giggle} you cheer REALLY LOUD!”
Once upon a time there were two little girls. One was a little sister and one was a big sister.
