Wordless Wednesday

Blast from the past

When I was in elementary school we lived in Gainesville and I went to an in home babysitter. Her name was Joyce and she was awesome and so was being around all of the kids there. She only kept afterschool kids and summers. She had a pool, a lot of land, and told the best scary stories around. I vividly remember most of the kids that stayed at Joyce's: Katie and Matt (brother and sister, also our neighbors), Donald and Kevin (brothers), Will and Andy (brothers), Lauren (male), Heather and her sister (see I am forgetting), and there were a handful of others, but these were the prime ones. We all had the same relationships that I would imagine siblings have growing up. I wouldn't know because I am an only child. I am smiling now while writing this post thinking about all the fun times I had during these years.

Of course we all grew up, grew apart, and have moved. Last year I ran in to Donald at NGCSU and we were able to catch up a little. Well on Saturday I ran in to Roxann, the mother of Will and Andy while I was working at our Leadership Conference. She is a student on our other campus and I saw her name on the registration list and wondered if it was the same Roxann. Sure enough it was and we had a nice time catching up. Sadly though, her youngest son Andy was killed when I was in high school. I knew about it, but never had a way to get in touch with her, so it was nice to give my condolences, even if it was over 10 years later.

All of this information is a lead in to this: Roxann sent me this picture today of her son Will's birthday party eons ago and I just had to post it. We live in a small world and when you run in to people that you were so connected with it really warms your heart, at least it does mine.

Pictured from left: Andy, me, unknown, unknown (seated), Donald (standing), Lauren, unknown (standing), Keving (background sitting), Will (only see part of face, but he is in front of the cake).

BAMA vs. UGA

I think many of you know how I feel about UGA. If you don't, I can't stand them, and thankfully neither can my husband.

This makes working where I do very funny because I am in the middle of "dawg" country. I mean, they can't even spell correctly.

I bleed orange and purple, and no environment is better than Death Valley on game day, not even between the hedges.

So as the biggest game of the season looms tomorrow and while Alabama beat the crap out of Clemson, I am here to say....

ROLL TIDE

Master of the Stairs

We went to Albany this weekend to visit my in-laws. It was a really nice time! While there Meredith discovered stairs and matered them. When I started taking this video I thought she could only go up, but as you can see, after having a little mommy freakout, she was fine and was able to get down herself.

Wordless Wednesday

This is from Meredith's swim lessons. She loves the water! I have been meaning to post one.

9/11/01

I shared a little about my experience on 9/11/01 in an earlier post, but it really seems to be the thing this year to talk about where you were and what you were doing on this day 7 years ago. I cannot believe it has been 7 years. This is probably the thing that I will think of when asked about significant historical events in my youth. I was a little too young to remember where I was when the Challenger exploded.

I was at work in the Admissions Office when the planes hit the towers. I remember we were all in shock that this could even happen and I remember even thinking how could a plane crash into the tower before we knew about the second plane. I fielded tons of phone calls as to whether the university was still open, which NGCSU chose to be so that students would have resources and could come together in the terrible time in our nation, but most professors canceled their classes.

I didn't get to see any footage of what was going on until just before the South tower fell. I had a not so nice boss that didn't want us leaving, so I went out on a break to go to the Student Center. NGCSU quickly organized a candle light vigil that was attended be probably over half the student body. My sorority sisters and I gathered on the drill field, many of them distraught that their boyfriends had been called up to serve and no one knew what was going on.

While I did not know anyone personally that died in this tragedy a friend's dad would have been killed in the Pentagon had he not been late for work that day. I have many friends who are still fighting the war that truly began this day 7 years ago, and I thank the Lord for them everyday.

Thank you members of the Armed Forces!
Thank you all the heroes and normal citizens called to duty action this day!
My thoughts and prayers are with those who lost loved and those that have family serving our country!

I am proud to be an American and I support our troops!

Ode to Doodle

My old cat Nick died today and he will be greatly missed. He was my buddy as well as Bill's and he lived to be 16.5 years old. He was known as doodle, I don't know why, but it stuck. He was also known as a few other choice nicknames when he had a bad attitude or did something wrong. Nick was with me when I moved to Clemson and would sing to me all the way home (aka meow). I remember the time I thought that he would do better if I let him out of his cage for the ride, boy was I wrong. That cat was all over the car and wouldn't sit still.

Nick was actually one of the reasons I knew Bill was a keeper. On our first date, Bill came in my Mom's house (that is where I was staying that weekend, as I still lived in Albany) and Nick and another cat we had named Norman got in Bill's lap. These cats don't do this to anyone new!

My morning routine will never be the same because Nick came in every morning to have his teeth flossed. Didn't help his breath any, but he loved it just the same.

Nick, Christmas 2007
When we originally got these antlers back when I was in college he was the only cat the didn't freak out and run when they were put on. He didn't like them by any means, he was just too lazy to do anything about it.

This bib says "Mommy loves me"

Nick loved his Meredith and watched over her all the time when she was a baby. He also was very tolerant of her wanting to pet him (read: grab his fur).

One final memory is one time when I had to go out of town while at Clemson and my friend Brooke took care of Nick. She took him over to another friends' apartment and one of them saw Nick in the kitchen and said "Hey, you know there is a mountain lion in your kitchen?" He was a big boy.

I love you doodle, you will be missed.

Big Girl

While I don't have any pictures of this yet, Meredith if getting to be a big girl. She now rides facing forward in her car seat, which she loves, and she is no longer on the bottle. She still struggles with some things, but she is learning!

A Little Creepy

Yesterday we went to my Aunt Sharon's house for a Labor Day get together. To get there from our house you have to go through a little town named Hoschton (pronounced like Shooston without the S). Normally this is a very cute town, but not now. When last my mom was here we went through the town to go to the outlet mall and noticed a lot of scarecrows. We had no camera to take pictures but it was all we could talk about, the scary scarecrows. I thought it was creepy.

Well they have taken the creepy to a whole new level. The town is trying to get into the Guisness Book of World Records with 4000 scarecrows. I am not sure how many they have now, but here is a sample of what you will see.

You should go see the creepy for yourself!

For more info:

http://www.scarecrowstampede.com/

http://www.hoschtonfallfestival.com/