The Girls

Each week I go to lunch with three of my friends. They are affectionately known as "the girls". These are friends that I have had for several years now. It's actually kind of funny how we all became friends.



My friend Lora and I went to school together. She was a couple of years ahead of me though and when she graduated she went off to college. We didn't keep in close contact although we did attend each other's weddings, see each other occasionally and keep up with each other through other friends. However when I came to work at Averitt, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Lora had come to work at Averitt just a few short months before I did.



At this point in the story, my next friend enters - Chasity. Chasity was in my training class when I began working at Averitt. I remember her from Orientation Day. She already seemed to know so many people and if she didn't know them then it wasn't long before she would. One of the friendliest people I have ever met. And she is the first person to introduce me to Salads and More as well as City Square Cafe in Cookeville. When our time in training was complete, we were actually separated to other teams. I would occasionally see her in the breakroom, going to/from work, or via email. But that was about all.



At this point in the story, my next friend enters - April. When I came out of training, April was my neighbor. Working in a call center, there is no way to get trained on all the possible calls you might receive. There were many times that I put a customer on hold to pop out of my chair and ask April a question. April had been working at Averitt just a few months herself but she was very kind and helpful. After about nine months, I was transferred to another group in the customer service department. It wasn't but a couple of months later that we had an opening in our group. The leader was asking if we knew someone in customer service who would be a good addition to our team. My first thought was April so I made the suggestion. And in a couple of weeks April was a member of our team. We've worked together now for nine years.



About seven years ago our team was integrated into another department. This was towards the end of my pregnancy with Jonah. I went on maternity leave in September and returned in December. When I returned, there had been two people leave our department. And you can guess who filled their places - yes, Lora and Chasity. For the next few years all four of us worked together. We made it a weekly habit of going to lunch each Tuesday at City Square Cafe until it closed. A short time later, Lora's husband Jody who was in the National Guard was called up to serve in the war in Iraq. During this time she left Averitt and was working part-time at a store as well as giving private piano lessons. She was also very involved in the family group for the National Guard that her husband was deployed with. However we continued with our weekly lunch dates.



Then about two years ago my friend Chasity left Averitt to pursue a new opportunity in the world of insurance. However, the weekly lunch dates continued. And to supplement the lunch dates we instituted a girls night. Our birthdays are almost exactly and very conveniently three months apart. So every three months we enjoy a girls night to honor a friend's birthday. We've been on boat rides on the lake, four wheeler rides in the woods, a lovely dinner and a movie in Knoxville, walked around downtown Nashville.



We've also enjoyed some girl weekends. Our first trip was obviously very exciting - New York City. Wow....what a way to start. We enjoyed Times Square, the Today show, the Lion King on Broadway, food, laughter and tons of memories. We also took a weekend trip to the Smoky Mountains last year. We visited Dollywood, ate, talked, laughed, and made lots more memories.

Our friendships have seen births and deaths, laughter and tears, highs and lows, wins and losses, fear and hope. The most important thing is that we have had friends to share it with.

A Week Without Kids

So....I haven't blogged lately....not because there is nothing going on. Perhaps it is just the opposite. There is too much going on. We're in the process of selling our house and have inspections, people working at the house, looking for a new house or the possibility of building a house. Then there is the daily life stuff including work each day, keeping up with a home and family, church work which includes teaching Sunday School, planning for Vacation Bible School and welcoming a new pastor. However, this blog isn't meant to be about how busy my life is.

Over the 4th of July holiday, the boys went and spent a weekend with my parents. My parents have just recently moved from Sparta (our hometown) to a small town just outside of Chattanooga TN. Granted, it's only about an hour drive however as we get used to them not living within five minutes from my house, it seems like they are an entire continent away. Thus the need for the boys and for the grandparents to have a weekend together. They had the best time, behaved well for the grandparents and came back behaving well. While they were visiting Nanny & Pa, they were treated to Chuck E. Cheese and ice cream, swimming with some of their second and third cousins and a cook out, fireworks over the lake and time being the center of Nanny & Pa's attention. Absolutely perfect, huh?

Yesterday I packed the boys up again and drove them to Kentucky where they are going to spend an entire week with my brother Brian and his wife Ashley. The boys have been looking forward to this for months. We've been talking about it since Christmas and had them in the understanding that they would go stay after "school was out". Naturally, the first week that school was out the boys insisted on going to Kentucky. My sister-in-law is in her last year of school at the University of Kentucky and has some classes that she has to take over the summer in order to graduate in December. Thus we explained to the boys that they would go visit in July after the holiday. And here we are....the boys have counted down all week. They are now at the point that they are asking if they are leaving first thing in the morning (breakfast time) or in the afternoon (lunch time).

This got me to thinking about the trips I made when I was younger visiting my family. I loved trips to stay with Mema and Papa. It was even better when there were some of the other cousins around to play with too. I think of the times that Mema would set up a play kitchen for us and we'd pretend to cook and serve her and each other. I remember when Papa first got a computer and we went to his house and he had the coolest game of "Wheel of Fortune". And he let us play it! I remember the time when Mema taught us some of the "dances" from when she was a teenager. I will never hear the song about the Bugle Boy without thinking of her. It was at my grandparents house sitting in the rocking chair with Mema that I learned to blow a bubble with my bubble gum. And no one could make a peanut butter and honey sandwich like she could.

Many times we spent a few days or a week at our aunt's house. My mom has four sisters and we've alternately stayed with each of them at various times. I remember spending a week with my aunt out in Houston TX and visiting a zoo as well as a the biggest mall I'd ever seen at the time. I remember playing in the living room with Lego's. We left them in the floor of the living room the entire week. And I remember staying with my aunt in Cleveland TN and playing outside by the creek with my cousins. We pretended all kinds of games and scenarios and played in the water. I remember my aunt taking all of us camping, having car trouble and spending hours on the side of the road. Even that is fun when you are with your family. Then there was the times of dressing up and dancing in my cousins room. We were so cool. And I remember the Thanksgiving holidays we spent with my aunt in Lexington TN. The first time I remember making a mud pie was at their house. We had mud all over us and it was the most fun ever! And I remember times staying with my aunt in Chattanooga TN and going out on their boat. It was the first time I'd been tubing and since I was the oldest kid, my uncle went a little faster when I was on the tube. And it was also the first time anyone got thrown off the tube. And the time that we went with them on vacation to Florida. It was so much fun....enjoying the beach and playing in the pool. My uncle got sun burnt the first or second day we were there. I will never forget it.

And these are just a very few of the memories I have of the times I've visited with family. I'm thankful that my children are able to have these same opportunities with their grandparents and family. I hope they make the kind of memories that you never forget.

The very first time

Well, we had our very first.....our first friend to sleep over and our first trip taking friends with us. I was SO excited. Really....I know that some people might not be excited about such but I was. Growing up in my house, I can remember having friends spend the night often. I remember friends wanting to spend the night at our house. It was fun there. My mom would often cook brownies or cookies at night as a special treat and then cook breakfast the next morning. And I can remember many trips with friends. Now usually this was a church activity and there was quite a group but my parents being the pastors were always chaperones as well. So, I think that kind of counts as a family trip.
One great memory is my Senior Trip. I know that typical senior trips don't include the parents going. However, I attended a Christian school and in order for us to have fundraisers during the school year for our trip we had to follow certain guidelines. That included having a chaperone. My parents weren't the first choice. Actually during our entire junior and senior years as we raised money, planned our trip, etc. we had a couple of teachers who were going to go with us. But on the day before graduation and one week before we were to leave on our trip, both teachers backed out. Can you say traumatic???? What were we going to do? Well....the senior class looked at me and said "Will your parents go?"
I asked and they said yes. So that's how my parents and brother ended up going on my senior trip to Virginia Beach to a house known as Sand Pearl. Wow.....I was so proud that they were my parents at that moment. They came through and didn't just drive and "chaperone" but they sacrificed and helped us to have an awesome senior trip. All the seniors and mom piled into a 15 passenger van for the long trip to VA beach. My dad drove our personal mini-van loaded down with all of the luggage. We made it there to the house and spread out into rooms. Mom and dad got a room on the bottom floor with their own balcony - they would need a break from all of us at some point! We went to the grocery store with mom who helped not only figure out the budget for food but shopped getting good deals so we would have snacks, breakfast, and a dinner or two at the house. We played on the beach, enjoyed the sun, mom got together a trip to Busch Gardens (great budget work again). We had some dinners out but then cooked at the house as well. Mom again being head chef. And we do what teenagers do best...we "hung out". And everyone was comfortable because they'd all been around my parents from the times hanging out at my house or spending the night.
And that is just one of the awesome memories that I have. I hope that I can recreate that same thing for my boys.