Reclaimed Friday Night
My best friend Jena came over last night.
It was unplanned, but so needed.
She and her husband have 2 young children and very stressful jobs (hers is more stressful—but I only write that to irk him because I know he’s reading this. Hi Rick!). Also, for the first time in nearly 8 years we’re not working in the same building, and I’ve been off on interviews or family jaunts for nearly 2 months. It all adds up to we just haven’t seen each other much lately.
So she came over last night with her scrapbooking stuff, we shared dinner, bemoaned the fact that there was no chocolate, drank a bottle of wine, and laughed and laughed and laughed.
At one point, we were just talking about parenting and life and nothing specific, and she shared a story I’d never heard before. But I don’t think I’ll ever forget it!
One humid Iowa summer evening, while her harried mother tried to pull together dinner and keep Jena and her brother from killing each other, and who knows how many other tasks at the same time, the phone rang. It was Olan Mills Photography Studio wanting to sell her photo packages of the kids.
After a number of more-or-less polite “No thank-yous” which fell on deaf ears, Jena’s mom, in utter desperation, finally hollered, “Listen Lady, if your children were as ugly as mine, you wouldn’t want their pictures either!”, followed quickly by a quieter, “Thank you. You have a nice evening too.”
And that was the point at which I nearly peed my pants.
***
I also finally pulled together all the loose scrapbook pages I've made over the last couple years. Once I compiled everything into books and got them all ordered, it turns out I have FOUR complete scrapbooks of Emily! Who knew?!
***
Tonight, I’m going to see my girl Steph and my old roomie. I'm excited!
Today--I sew.
It was unplanned, but so needed.
She and her husband have 2 young children and very stressful jobs (hers is more stressful—but I only write that to irk him because I know he’s reading this. Hi Rick!). Also, for the first time in nearly 8 years we’re not working in the same building, and I’ve been off on interviews or family jaunts for nearly 2 months. It all adds up to we just haven’t seen each other much lately.
So she came over last night with her scrapbooking stuff, we shared dinner, bemoaned the fact that there was no chocolate, drank a bottle of wine, and laughed and laughed and laughed.
At one point, we were just talking about parenting and life and nothing specific, and she shared a story I’d never heard before. But I don’t think I’ll ever forget it!
One humid Iowa summer evening, while her harried mother tried to pull together dinner and keep Jena and her brother from killing each other, and who knows how many other tasks at the same time, the phone rang. It was Olan Mills Photography Studio wanting to sell her photo packages of the kids.
After a number of more-or-less polite “No thank-yous” which fell on deaf ears, Jena’s mom, in utter desperation, finally hollered, “Listen Lady, if your children were as ugly as mine, you wouldn’t want their pictures either!”, followed quickly by a quieter, “Thank you. You have a nice evening too.”
And that was the point at which I nearly peed my pants.
***
I also finally pulled together all the loose scrapbook pages I've made over the last couple years. Once I compiled everything into books and got them all ordered, it turns out I have FOUR complete scrapbooks of Emily! Who knew?!
***
Tonight, I’m going to see my girl Steph and my old roomie. I'm excited!
Today--I sew.
posted by Aimee at
1:20 PM
|
<< Home