Memoirs

The other day I was on the phone with a friend, Amanda, from Gillette. We were chatting about different memories that we had, and I was reminded of a few embarrassing moments that I had. Surprised? Didn't think so.

So, since I got such great reactions from the U2 post, here is yet another embarrassing moment from my life.

It was my 8th grade year at Sage Valley High School. Honestly, I have a mental block of this year. I can't remember a lot of went on that year, so during our conversation Amanda brings up this little story. Hmmm, I wonder why I suppressed such memories.

So 8th grade year, it was a Wednesday. Why do I remember that? Well, because every Wednesday we had to run circles around our gym. This particular Wednesday really stands out. After running, they made us all take showers. Amanda and I were talking about why they made us take showers. I started thinking about it, could you imagine how stinky a bunch of teenagers were after running for 20 minutes. Ugh.

I come out of the showers to find that my underwear had mysteriously vanished. I looked around frantically for a few minutes and then went and informed the sub (our teacher was out on maternity leave) that my underwear were gone. The teacher asked me, "Are you sure you wore underwear?" Well of course I was! I think I would remember if I didn't wear underwear! She then asked everyone to look around to see if they could find my underwear. Girls started looking on the floor, in lockers, in the showers, but no one found them. The PE period was coming to a clothes and I was underwear-less. Worst of all, I was wearing jeans that day. I could have gotten away with it if I had a dress on, but no. Luckily I had some smelly boxer shorts in my gym locker. It was the early 90s - boxers were all the rage. I put those on and tried to leave with some diginity.

One girl in the class (who I was kind of friends with) said, "You know everyone is going to hear about this." I said, "That's fine, I don't care."

We had lunch right after PE and there was that girl going table to table (or so it seemed) telling everyone that I lost my underwear. I was fired up, I knew people were going to find out, I just didn't think it would be from her.

It turns out that my friend, Wendy (who I pleaded with her to check the stuff that was already in her locker) found them the next PE period. She had gathered them up with her clothes when she put them in her locker.

Things get worse...

Years laters - I mean about 8 years later, my friend's little sister, Brenda, was telling us about a hilarious story her PE teacher told them on their first day of junior high. The teacher was subbing for a PE class and some girl lost her underwear. I said, "Brenda, That was me!!!"

I'm just glad that my humiliation could help young girls to keep track of their undies.

Update on my girls

My little preschool graduate :

That is from her first year of preschool.

Lately I have loved my kids. That's not to say that in the past I didn't love them, its just lately I feel overcome with love for them. Everytime I look at Lauren, I see what a sweet little girl that she is. She's in this phase where she randomly comes to me and hugs me and tells me that she loves me. It brings to mind the scripture that says"becometh as a child..." so many times I wondered what was meant, but this is just one example. A child is so quick to show love, forgiveness, and kindness. I've been trying to make an effort to hug her and tell her of my love for her every time that I feel it. Its been a nice couple of weeks.







Notice how Rachel is folded in half - you can see her other foot by her hand. This cracked me up so much. I have a similar picture of Lauren, in fact here it is - it was taken when Lauren was this exact same age - and I mean EXACT.

Rachel is crawling all over the place and has fallen down our little steps only twice. I love that her and Lauren are really starting to play together. Also, Rachel has gotten more cuddely lately; when I hold her she puts her head down on my shoulder and snuggles me. I love it. I think my new found happiness has to do with Trav being home. I feel less angry and happier. I'm so amazed by God's plan and the perfectness of it. A home is meant to have a father and a mother - the balance of the parents is what rounds out the home. I'm so greatful that Travis is home, he is such a wonderful man. I love that he helps me fold laundry, took the girls grocery shopping, and puts them to bed at night. I married a marvelous (and handsome) man. I feel like a very lucky girl.

Last night we attended Lauren's dance recital. They were "pirates" that danced to a song, "Welcome to the Carribean." I put pirates in quotes because really their costumes were wench outfits. Anyway, I thought she looked cute.

We went to her dress rehersal on Friday and everything went well. The class is full of 3 and 4 year olds. When it came time to perform, all the kids went to their designated spots and the dance was great. The recital was a different story.

The girls start out at the back of the stage in a make-shift boat and scream, "There she is!" and then they get out and go to their spots. As the girls are all going to their designated spots, it was clear that some were confused. There was an abundance of little wenches stage left and about 2 stage right. (They, of course, were suppose to be evenly spaced throughout the stage). The problem was that someone had gone to Lauren's spot. She knew this and was not happy. Giggles erupted from the audience as people saw what was ensuing. You could see Lauren shaking her finger at the girl in her spot, the girl shakes her head, and then Lauren walks over to her teacher (Miss Serene) who's hiding behind the curtain - off-stage, helping the girls with the moves. Lauren disapears for a second, then walks back to her place and folds her arms gruffly. Then comes the point in the music when they are suppose to grab their partner's hands and skip in a circle. Lauren's partner looked around and found Lauren and Lauren joined in the dance again. It was good from then on - except at another point when partners were needed there were two girls on opposite ends of the stage that were partnerless. I was crying, I was laughing so hard.

In the car afterwards we were talking about the performance. Lauren said, "I folded my arms and didn't dance." I said, "Did you go talk to Miss Serene?" She nods. "What did she tell you?"

She says matter-of-factly, "Go back to your spot."

It was really cute. I really wish that we could have video taped it. It would be a hilarious warning to show her husband on their wedding day, "Just be careful what happens when she knows she's right."