Conversations with Smiths- Part 11

I think we can all agree that an alternate title for the "Conversations with Smiths" could be "Poor Todd". The man puts up with a lot from us, bless him.

A few nights ago while at the pool with friends, I was explaining that I'd had reunion with my childhood friend, Dave. Dave and I became very good friends at the tender age of 9. We are as different as can be, but found mutual satisfaction in long walks and hikes and beating each other up. Now, when I say beating each other up, I'm not being euphamistic. We were rough on each other. There was biting, scratching, hair pulling, tackling, wrestling. Hours of my youth were spent in hand to hand combat with this boy. And we both loved every minute of it!  (Well, maybe not the hair pulling. I still don't love that.)

Todd even took pictures to document.

Anyway, we spent the night at the house of our dear friends, the Shropes, the night before we left on our European travels, and I persuaded Dave (a relative of theirs) to come visit. I'm not sure my family or his (with the exception of his sister who had been there for the childhood/teenage version of our friendship) knew what to expect of this reunion. But what they got was a front row seat to a knock down drag out between the two of us. My children were amused at first, then disturbed, and eventually they fled. Todd continued to chat with our friends as if his wife wasn't pinned under a full grown man who she was kicking in the head to be let go of.

As I related all of this to the friends at the pool, one of them turned to Todd and said, "Was that the weirdest thing you've ever experienced?"

Todd without missing a beat said, "Being married to Emilia? Ha! Um, no."

Boston in the Fall!

Do you see that gorgeous lady and her gorgeous baby?

Not me and Lilyanna, the OTHER gorgeous lady and gorgeous baby, silly!  ;)

They are some of my favoritest people in the universe.  The husband/dad that go with them is in that category, too, but he was too busy taking pictures to be in the pictures.

I had a plane ticket to use before December, so when I thought of who I could go visit who lived in the same time zone, Liz and her family jumped right into my mind!  We haven't seen one another since right before we moved to Ohio back when Caleb was a baby!  And when I emailed Liz, whom I've known and loved for more than two decades now, and suggested that my baby and I should come invade their life and home for a weekend, she said, "YES!!"  Because she is wonderful and warm and welcoming like that.  To hear her tell it, she's not like that with everyone, but I don't know if I believe her... 

Here is Lilyanna showing Mr. B how the walking thing is done.  

Here is Mr. B being not so sure about Lilyanna invading his space.

It was very sweet to get our kids together to play a little, and even better to have a relaxing weekend visiting with old friends.  Being with old friends always reminds me about all the stories we could tell our children about one another that for now we don't.  I'm sure someday we'll share some, but for now, these kids wouldn't appreciate hearing about our wilder days anyway.  (I have a 10 year old, though, who would LOVE to hear the socky-time story...  See?  This is what I mean.  Some things people don't need to know.  They should just stay buried in 1986 where they belong.)

  And, we went to the beach!!  I have no pictures of that because it was really very cold.  However, I discovered that Lilyanna enjoys sand, water, and chasing seagulls.  I find all of these likes very encouraging for future beach going!  And I was able to visit with my beautiful, brilliant AND nice cousin.  (Seriously, is it really fair to have ALL of those qualities.  Almost Dr. Jen, can't  you share a little with the rest of us??)

Many thanks to my wondermous friend, Liz and her husband and baby for a delightful and relaxing weekend!

Keep the Old

On our almost last day in NJ, we drove up north to have a picnic with my friend Jill and her kids, Nick and Cassie. Nick came with a full arsenal of nerf guns so fun was had by all. After we visited for a while, Jill mentioned that her younger brother, Dave, was going to stop by as well.



I haven't seen Dave since a brief hour or two my senior year of college. And even before then it had been pretty sparse. Dave and I became friends I guess around age nine or so. But not really until middle school. We lived a good hour apart, but managed to hang out a fair amount, still. It was ancient times, of course, so we wrote letters to stay in touch, every one of which I still have.



I was reading them a couple of years ago. I unfolded each carefully and when Todd asked what I was reading, I said "I'm looking at the love and friendship of a 13 year old boy."



Dave and I are about as different as two friends could be. I love being around people. He goes out of his way to avoid them. And that is just the tippy top of a whole entire iceberg of differences. When we were kids, Dave and I communicated mostly through tackling one another. Despite our differences, though, Dave was a constant sort of friend through all the changes which came through middle school, high school, and college.

In fact, I remember one very important night. His sister, Jill, and I had driven from WY to NJ in two days. We stumbled into her parents' house late in the afternoon and my only plan was to sleep until the following morning. I was particularly nervous, though, because the following day I would be seeing my boyfriend. We had dated all of my freshman year of college and spent a rotten summer apart. I wasn't sure how things were going to be. He'd pulled back a little from me that summer and I was terrified that he had decided I wasn"t worth it. I lay in bed tossing and turning in the darkness. Dave came in at some point and lay down next to me and asked what was wrong. When I told him, he said, "If he doesn't still love you, than he's an idiot and I'll knock his block off." I knew it was an overly simplistic view of the matter, but right then it was all I needed to hear. And with that I cuddled into Dave and fell asleep.

Last week, after nearly 12 years since last we saw one another, when Dave stepped out of his car, I ran across the grass, jumped up in the air, and threw my arms around him to say hello. And Dave, even though we haven't spoken in all that time, caught me up and swung me around...as if I didn't weigh 50 lbs more, have four kids, a husband, a house, and a minivan. For about 20 seconds, I was 13 years old again. And while definitely not my favorite age, he was certainly a favorite part.

On with the show, though! Picnic pictures: Mr. Zero Percent Body Fat was so cold that he borrowed my field hockey hoodie from me. Poor guy.

A motley crew indeed.

Even scarier. Though made slightly less so by Cassie's bunny ears.

Me and Dave and Cassie's bunny ears.

Mmmmm. Fooooooood. Nothing like hot dogs fresh of the grill on a chilly day.

Blame it on Hormones

I am ridiculously appreciative my friends today.

So, to everyone who had to deal with me in all of my PMS-ing glory through the series of fiascos that made up my day, I would like to say a very large THANK YOU!!

Thank you for talking when I needed talk. And talking about something completely different when I needed that, too. And being silent for several seconds when I said, "No talking!"

I wish I had gazillions of dollars and could take us all on a cruise tomorrow.

Alas, I do not. So I give you my feeble, but heartfelt gratitude.

Birthday Party

Benjamin asked to have an "Arctic" theme for his birthday party. I will admit, that his request took me a little off-guard. But he suggested a couple of games, Todd came up with another, and I managed to get Heather the Awesome to do a cake for us. Behold, the igloo cake:

Other than the adventure of procuring the nasty Sno-balls in the poorly lit, un-hygenic, gas station convenience stores, it was a pretty stress free birthday party. 

When the kids arrived, they ran around like wild animals with weapons. Really. It was complete and total mayhem. I don't know why it still surprises me when this happens. But it does.

After a few minutes I made everyone drop their weapons and head upstairs to make a fish out of construction paper for our first game of "Pin the fish in the Polar Bear's mouth or fiercly clawed hand.". That was Benjamin's idea. Todd drew the polar bear. Because he's good like that. I mentioned to him last night that while I hadn't put it on my list of qualities to seek in a spouse, that clearly "Must know how to draw a life size polar bear for children's game" should have been on the list and, boy-howdy, did I luck out!

That delightful game was followed by "seal" races. The kids seperated into teams and we tied their arms and legs up. Then they had to lay on their bellies and flop across the floor, touch their noses to the wall, and turn around and come back so the next person could go.

It. Was. Fabulous.

Seriously, you should all do this with your kids at home some time just for fun! Or your spouse, siblings, or your co-workers. Nothing says "morale boost" like flailing across a room on your belly. You can't not laugh. I promise.

The last game was a dogsled race. No dogs were harmed because we used kids instead. Two kids grabbed the front of a sleeping bag, another one jumped on top of the sleeping bag to hold on and the teams raced one another across the basement. Also, impossible to do without much mayhem.

Todd and I were thoroughly exhuasted at that point and ready to sit down and put our feet up. But alas, we'd only used up one of the two hours. So, we had cake and ice cream, and then headed over to the school playground and then back for presents opening.

It was so windy outside for cake that Benjamin never actually got to blow out his candle.  The wind did it for him eight times.  (We redid it the next day in the dining room.)

I love presents. Presents mean that my kids get the things they actually want except I don't have to pay for them, so instead I can give Benjamin the gift of a two day dinosaur dig in Wyoming this summer. Let's be honest, if he'd only gotten that, he would have regarded this birthday with certain amounts of disappointment. Instead his friends showered him with small and large plastic things that made him squeal with joy and delight. Aren't friends great?

San Francisco 2008

I'm back!

And I'm really sore. But I'm also very satisfied.

First of all, San Francisco is one of my most favorite places to visit. Part of it may be the wonderful people I visit, but I think the other part is just the feel of the city. I love it there. The weather that keeps you guessing, the beautiful terrain, and the fabulous cheap food. What's not to love?

I got three hours of sleep before I woke up to catch my plane from Columbus, so when Sunny picked me up at the airport (which he kindly offered to do despite never having met me. You rock, btw, Sunny) I was already a little out of it. Still, it was a sunny day in SF with my new friend Sunny and we headed off immediately from the airport to eat Indian food. Mmm. Indian food. Once my mouth and tummy were both sufficiently happy, he took me to Sukhvinder's apartment. He totally would have entertained me the whole day, except I really needed a nap.

It was so great being at Sukhvinder's again! It felt a little like coming home since it was just last year that I helped her move in and shop for furniture. Happy memories! Shower and nap complete, I made my friend, Damian, come out and play with me.

Hm. I have no pictures of that. In fact, I don't think I ever take pictures when we play. I'm usually so busy dragging him along into whatever ridiculous activity I'm making us do, that I'm afraid if I let go long enough to get my camera, he might run away. Damian took me to the beach, only slightly unwillingly.


I love beaches. I like them cold and dark and angry and I like them warm and blue and sunny. Mostly I just like seeing the edge of things. (Living in the midwest makes me a little antsy.) The sun was out and the waves all sorts of fun to play in! And Damian made the most delightful squeaking sound every time the cold water got his jeans wet. When he started getting slightly shivery, we climbed up on one of the sand dunes and watched the sun set. Have I mentioned how much I love the beach? Sukhvinder and Sunny met us on top of the dune just after sunset for hugs and introductions all around. Okay, it was just me who hugged everyone.

This is an old picture of Damian, btw: (Look we have the same hair!)


(He's single and straight and owns stock in Google, ladies. I'll forward any inquiries on to him. If you're mean to him, though, I'll beat you up.)

Anyway, the four of us went back to Sukhvinder's apartment to get changed for dinner. While changing out of my wet and sandy clothes, I realized my phone was missing. Thus began the great phone hunt. We searched the apartment. We went back and searched the beach. Damian retraced our steps along the street. (Thanks, you guys.) It was gone, though. I called Todd to let him know what had happened and he replied that he'd just sent me a goodnight text.

I decided not to call the company just in case someone found it and was feeling honest. Apparently, though, around 3 am Todd received a txt message from my phone saying "F-- you, Todd. We're thru." While slightly off-putting, he knew it wasn't from me and went and canceled my account. Poor guy.

Anyway, dinner was delightful. The food was delicious (butternut squash ravioli in a butter and cinnamon sugar sauce with toasted sage) and the company was even better. I really love my friends. I know that sounds sappy and maybe even trite, but I feel so blessed to be loved by such wonderful and amazing people. Sukhvinder, I've known since we were 11 and Damian since we were 17. They have both become more dear to me over the years as our friendships have evolved and weathered all major life changes and continued on. It never ceases to amaze me that I can walk off a plane and into their arms and pick up right where we left off last time.

I'm going to get misty if I keep this up, so on to the next post! My day with the hot German boy!