Happy Birthday Oak Point Man!!!
I meant to get this post up a couple of days ago (actually on your birthday) but got busy...or distracted...or maybe I was dancing with myself ~ who knows.
My point is I still think about you, my friend, nearly every day. On the 27th as I toyed with ideas about what I wanted to say, I stopped and thought about all the time we spent together. Morning coffee everyday at Kobos, lunch at the Acrop (still wantin' me some "Sunday" brunch!) or at the bento place, laughing at so many stories about people and friends and kids, checking out women together - one in particular that was H.O.T. and smart (a combination that's hard to beat). The three of us were great friends.
I miss the kid stories a LOT. How is the Dinosaur Man? Still crazy smart?
I enjoyed our talks about relationships and sex (not always mutually exclusive). It was nice to have a friend with whom I can have those conversations without being judged. You were definitely that friend.
I regret not seeing you more when I worked in your neck of the woods. The miles between us are many but I still feel as close to you as ever .
I look back on the the last few years and miss what was. I miss the cameraderie we had and the way things were back then. I know that people and events come and go in our lives. It's like reading chapters in a good book. When you reflect on it, certain things stand out more than others. You are definitely one of those chapters. That last year we physically worked in the same location was, what I now know to be, a wonderfully, sweet time in my life.
I still love my life the way I always have, but I've been through more - some of it not so great - and I realize I will never be the same person I was back then. Wiser, yes. Unaffected by certain events, no. It's funny how it all works. When I think of that time I realize how blessed I was to have you and Hot Mama and Young Stud in my life. Time has changed the proximity but not the way my heart feels about you guys.
My friendship with you always made me feel special. You were truly my friend. I know we each had other friends but I knew that you were there for me and that it didn't matter what happened, you cared about me.
As I conclude my walk down memory lane, I want you to know the friendship you shared with me has touched my heart. I have memories (and giggles) that only you and I share and that's pretty cool.
I'll try to make an effort to connect with you soon. Maybe it's time for another conference call with Hot Mama?!
Happy birthday, Oak Point Man.
I love you.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
The World is a Measuring Cup
While driving home with Auburn Aries a few weeks ago, she made an observation.
AA: Mom, the world is just one big measuring cup, isn't it?
AP: How do you mean?
AA: Everything is measured; quarter-mile to Sauvie Island, 10 miles to Portland, you sit at a red light for a measured amount of time, TV is in 30 or 60 minute blocks...everything is measured.
Sometimes her insight astounds me. I've been on this planet a lot longer than she and I had never viewed it in those terms.
As for the amount of time I've been away from my blog, we won't measure that today. It's been far too long and even though it seems lots of people have fallen away from blogging, I have every intention of picking it back up. I love writing and sharing my stories and thoughts.
I was looking through some notes I've been carrying in my purse for that indeterminate amount of time I've been away and I have some fun C.C. Slaughter's stories with the boys I want to share.
There was the time Golden Boy was tending bar and while watching him mix a cocktail, I expressed a need:
AP: Can I have one of those pourers?
GB: A what?!
AP: A pourer. One of those things where the mix comes out.
Then Pony spoke up:
P: Golden Boy is the pourer. That's the spout!
Then there was the time we were all having cocktails talking about Pony's hugantic truck he drives and another male friend of ours overheard the conversation and interjected:
EA: You know, every time you come over in that big ass truck my Cher dolls fall over!!
I cracked up laughing. Anywhere else that would be the strangest sentence coming from a man, but not in C.C.'s.
And I can't forget the time the topic of conversation was how cool it would be if lube dispensed out of a hose from our bedroom ceilings like it does at Jiffy Lube on the retractable hose.
You see, not much has changed and with regard to me and My Boys, that's a good thing. We're all a little older and for some of us we live and work in different places but we're still the same and I wouldn't change that for the world.
On the flip side of my world, Auburn Aries is doing great. She's 5' 7-1/2" now and in the sixth grade. She's still beautiful and funny and smart except now I can add in occasionally sharp tongued and sometimes acts like her Mom's an idiot. From where does that attitude creep in? It baffles the mind. I ask a simple question and her response is in this tone that would imply that I had just yelled at her and she needed to defend herself.
She's still carrying around baby fat that she hates. She asked me a few days ago how can she find a person that will be her best friend and keep them being her best friend and not wishy-washy. My first thought was 'wait until you're grown up, you'll find them' but that wasn't what she needed to hear. She asked me about why people are put off by her and, yes, in those words.
I tried to explain to her that most people judge a person by the way they look and with her they see tall and overweight and people won't always give themselves a chance to get to know someone who looks different. I suggested to her that she continue to see people for what's on the inside, like she always has, and that when she feels a connection with a new friend that she needs to nurture and care for the friendship.
I pointed out that my friendships with Hot Toddy, Pony and Golden Boy are friendships that I put time into just the same way they do and the result is we've all become a family. I assured her her best friend was out there somewhere and in no time at all she'll be snubbing Mom for a movie with her girlfriends.
I've said it before - I won't know if I've done a good job raising her until she's 30 and has kids of her own. Hopefully the impact I make on her world is a good one.
AA: Mom, the world is just one big measuring cup, isn't it?
AP: How do you mean?
AA: Everything is measured; quarter-mile to Sauvie Island, 10 miles to Portland, you sit at a red light for a measured amount of time, TV is in 30 or 60 minute blocks...everything is measured.
Sometimes her insight astounds me. I've been on this planet a lot longer than she and I had never viewed it in those terms.
As for the amount of time I've been away from my blog, we won't measure that today. It's been far too long and even though it seems lots of people have fallen away from blogging, I have every intention of picking it back up. I love writing and sharing my stories and thoughts.
I was looking through some notes I've been carrying in my purse for that indeterminate amount of time I've been away and I have some fun C.C. Slaughter's stories with the boys I want to share.
There was the time Golden Boy was tending bar and while watching him mix a cocktail, I expressed a need:
AP: Can I have one of those pourers?
GB: A what?!
AP: A pourer. One of those things where the mix comes out.
Then Pony spoke up:
P: Golden Boy is the pourer. That's the spout!
Then there was the time we were all having cocktails talking about Pony's hugantic truck he drives and another male friend of ours overheard the conversation and interjected:
EA: You know, every time you come over in that big ass truck my Cher dolls fall over!!
I cracked up laughing. Anywhere else that would be the strangest sentence coming from a man, but not in C.C.'s.
And I can't forget the time the topic of conversation was how cool it would be if lube dispensed out of a hose from our bedroom ceilings like it does at Jiffy Lube on the retractable hose.
You see, not much has changed and with regard to me and My Boys, that's a good thing. We're all a little older and for some of us we live and work in different places but we're still the same and I wouldn't change that for the world.
On the flip side of my world, Auburn Aries is doing great. She's 5' 7-1/2" now and in the sixth grade. She's still beautiful and funny and smart except now I can add in occasionally sharp tongued and sometimes acts like her Mom's an idiot. From where does that attitude creep in? It baffles the mind. I ask a simple question and her response is in this tone that would imply that I had just yelled at her and she needed to defend herself.
She's still carrying around baby fat that she hates. She asked me a few days ago how can she find a person that will be her best friend and keep them being her best friend and not wishy-washy. My first thought was 'wait until you're grown up, you'll find them' but that wasn't what she needed to hear. She asked me about why people are put off by her and, yes, in those words.
I tried to explain to her that most people judge a person by the way they look and with her they see tall and overweight and people won't always give themselves a chance to get to know someone who looks different. I suggested to her that she continue to see people for what's on the inside, like she always has, and that when she feels a connection with a new friend that she needs to nurture and care for the friendship.
I pointed out that my friendships with Hot Toddy, Pony and Golden Boy are friendships that I put time into just the same way they do and the result is we've all become a family. I assured her her best friend was out there somewhere and in no time at all she'll be snubbing Mom for a movie with her girlfriends.
I've said it before - I won't know if I've done a good job raising her until she's 30 and has kids of her own. Hopefully the impact I make on her world is a good one.
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