Going The Distance

I wrote the following for a contest on Dallas-Fort Worth Moms Like Me.  It's to win some sort of Going The Distance (the new movie with Drew Barrymore and Justin Long) prize pack, but mostly I just wanted to write it out anyway.

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I suppose you mean for us to write about our long distance ROMANTIC relationships, [the contest said to write about a long distance relationship you had/have] but I'm gonna go a different direction (as I've never actually had a long distance romantic relationship) since it doesn't necessarily specific that intent.

In 1997, the internet was still relatively new to most people.  I was a sophomore in high school, and none of my friends had the internet, let alone email addresses, instant message or social networks back then.  So I ventured out into the world wide internet in search of ... whatever there was.  I had AOL, so I started checking out some of the AOL chatrooms available.  I frequented a few rooms and made a few acquaintances I chatted with on a regular basis, and one of those acquaintances had an acquaintance - and when we were introduced, there was an instant connection.  No, not a romantic connection... I already said my story isn't like that - but a definite friendship connection.  We were the same age, Christian, into music and despite all of the things we didn't have in common...we still just really hit it off.  We pretty much became inseparable.  Or... as inseparable as you can be when you live 1,400 miles away.  She lived in California and I lived in Texas.  That didn't really stop us, we chatted every day, emailed back and forth when we weren't online at the same time, we talked on the phone as well.  We went through a lot together... the rest of high school and all that drama, graduation, jobs, loves and losses, Y2K!, me getting married. 

We finally met in person in 2003...six years after meeting online!  She flew here and stayed with my husband and I.  We showed her all around the area, went to all the tourist sites and fun stuff!  I'm sure we were both nervous at that first meeting, even though we had known each other for 6 years already, meeting in person is something completely different.  But we hit it off, even face to face.  We had a great time.  About 6 months later, my husband and I went to California and she returned the favor of showing us around.  Had a great time there!  Sometime after the birth of my first child, we sort of lost touch... the chatting stopped, the emails were few and far between, we just both got really busy with life.  But, when my schedule at work changed and hers lined up with it, we once again found ourselves online at the same time and were able to chat (not on AOL this time, but thanks to Gmail and it's implanted IM!). 

We've rekindled our friendship and chat  and text pretty much every day again... it's just like the old days only we're 12 years older now!  I have two children and she is getting married next year, so we have a lot to talk about!  I hope and pray that somehow I will be able to make it to California for her wedding, as I can't imagine not being there for my BEST FRIEND on her big day!  It's amazing that someone who lives 1, 400 miles away and that I've only seen in person twice, could feel so close and so special to me, but I can't imagine life without her!

P.S. I LOVE Drew Barrymore.  Just sayin'.

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And, guess what?  I totally won the contest today!  Haha!  Thanks, dallas.momslikeme.com! I got a promotional prize pack from the movie with all kinds of silly stuff, including the movie soundtrack.  Granted, only 4 people entered, but hey... that's awesome.  Hahaha!

The Good Guys...actually are good!

Favorite summer season show: The Good Guys

It's hilarious. 
It's filmed here around Dallas-Fort Worth.
I have a couple of friends that have made cameos in it. 
But mostly... it's hilarious!  There isn't really any other way to describe it, ya'll.
You can still watch most of the episodes at Fox.com if you missed 'em.

Prestonisms on Measurements & Eyesight...

Preston got out his tool box and was playing with the tape measure.  He turned to me, held up the tape measure and said (very matter of fact, of course), "Mom, you're 50 meat-eaters tall."
"Meat-eaters?  Really?" I giggled.
"Yes, meat-eaters.  Just kidding.  Dinosaurs are really big so you're only 2 meat-eaters tall."

x

The other day Michael was trying to show Preston, who was sitting right next to him, something on the laptop.  Michael was trying to adjust the screen so Preston could view it.  Preston sighed, "Dad, it's just not see-able in my sight."

[Preston used to have his own Xanga page where I kept track of his funny business.  The kid is so smart that  when he does misspeak it's usually hilarious.  Or sometimes he's too smart for his own good.  Since I've moved over to Blogger, I'll just post his new Prestonisms here.]

A Dude Who Must Be a Christian...

I got called a dude today.  Ok, she didn't use that word exactly.  Here's what happened...

Preston, Callen and I were shopping for groceries at Aldi.  Callen was in his sling on me, and Preston was sitting in the front part of the cart, helping me get the items loaded onto the checkout belt.  I was trying to get stuff up there as fast as I could with one hand (the other hand was holding Callen in as I bent over to grab things, 'cause he was wiggling around, trying to escape any way he could) all the while trying to get Preston to stop putting the heavy jars and cans on top of things like veggies and bread. A little, old lady came up behind us in line and smiled at Preston, who was closest to her.

"Are you helping your daddy out with the groceries?" she asked sweetly.
"Umm, that's my mommy!" Preston answered, though the woman obviously did not hear him.  I just kinda smiled and kept piling groceries up.
She spoke again, "Are you a big helper for your daddy? I bet he really appreciates that."  This time I looked up at her very directly, and gave her a nervous, little chuckle and said "Yeah, he's a big help."  Once again, I don't think she heard, or it didn't register.  Preston just looked at her.
She came around to the side of my cart and asked "Do you think your daddy would mind if I helped you out?"  She looked at me and asked, "Do you mind?  I can help you out here."
This time I spoke clearly and directly to her, "Oh, that would be fine with me, thank you for the help!"  THIS TIME SHE GOT IT!
"OH!," she said, "You're the mother!  I'm so sorry.  I just... the hair, I couldn't tell. I should have known because you were carrying the baby like that."
I finally got the groceries piled up on the belt (yeah, this was a big shopping trip) and while the guy was checking out the items, I pulled out a card I recently made with the Shear Hope website on it.  I turned to her and said, "Here's a card with a website you can check out, it'll explain why my hair is so short, because I shaved it for a cause."
"Oh, no thanks, I don't plan on cutting my hair," she answered.  Wow.
"No, no, I wouldn't ask you to do that.  It just explains why I did.  I shaved it for...," I tried.
She didn't want to take the card. "Oh uh... I already have a hairdresser, thanks."
I kinda persisted, "No ma'am, this is about the Cancer Ministry I shaved my head for."
"Oh, I see.  That's... nice."  She said some other stuff about her daughter-in-law helping to organize a walk against Cancer, and by this time I had paid and was through the checkout.

 I can't really blame her for thinking I was a dude.  When I got home, I looked at myself in the mirror.

I did look pretty dude-ish today.  No makeup, no jewelry, dark colored shirt, the baby was in the sling in front of me so she couldn't tell I was a woman.  I wasn't greatly offended or anything, kind of expect that sort of stuff to happen.  Especially now that my hair is growing out and I can't really do much with it to make it look any different.  The same thing happened the first time I shaved my head for Shear Hope.  A guy came into the office, I had my back to him, and he said "Excuse me, sir."  Then I got up and turned around, with my preggo belly and all and he was like "Oh, sorry about that!"  Haha.

It gets better...

One thing about Aldi is that you sack your own groceries after you check out, and since I had soooo many groceries it took me a while (again with one hand 'cause Callen was being so fiesty!).  So, she came back by me and apologized again for mistaking me for a man.  She also said, "Can I help you?  I just feel for moms who are out here with their little kids in the heat and all trying to get all this done.  It's hard."  I declined her offer this time because I was nearly done anyway.  Somehow, as we were both sacking our own groceries next to each other, it came up that her husband used to work nites and I told her mine currently does and how we get outta the house so he can sleep.  She asked if Preston would be starting school soon.  I told her we were going to start homeschooling. Again, she had a surprised look.  Then she said "Well, you must be Christian then... it's usually Christians who homeschool their kids."  I just laughed to myself, 'cause, man, this lady was a real piece of work... no political correctness for her!  Haha.  "Well, yes we are Christian," I answered.  Honestly, it was a pretty hilarious encounter, definitely made the shopping trip a bit of an adventure.

Also, this is why shaving my head for Shear Hope has been so awesome, so eye-opening.  I thought it was funny, and I wasn't offended at all.  But a lot of women who have lost their hair because of chemotherapy or alopecia deal with this kind of stuff every day!  They're run down from all the medications, treatments, etc., just trying to get through their day and the last thing they want is for someone to call them a man!