"I HAVE A VOICEMAIL FROM TOBY!"...... oh and happy birthday to Meg!

Meg turned the big one four today, I can't believe it. In some ways I always think she's older than 14, mostly because she spells waaayyyy better than I do. But also because she is so mature and lovely for her age. I've never met a 14 year old who thinks and ponders the way Meg does. She is not your typical Bryant jr. high chica, giggly, boy crazy, loud and........stupid, which is why it surprised me when her 13 girlfriends showed up on our doorstep for her birthday partay slumber party. I try to be a "cool" big sister........ I failed. I took Cafe Rio to her school at lunch and sat in the cafeteria. All I was able to keep thinking was hand sanitizer, hand sanitizer. (thanks mom for passing that on to me) I sat outside and devoured pizza. While on my 5th or 6th piece (the corners of my mouth, the front of my shirt, and the ends of my sleeves caked in tomato sauce ) I tore my attention away from my delicious meal to be part of their conversation, which was about counting calories and carbs and anorexia. I wanted to vomit, not to fit in, but because these girls are 13, what a sad world. Meg must have been equally confused because when I looked over she had remnants of pepperoni on her face and the same puzzled expression I'm sure I had. Anyone could have walked in and would have known we were the two related. Meg also invited her 4 guy friends, one of which has a crush on her. All night long they were egging on this romance. At the skating rink they wanted them to hold hands, while on the couch wanting him to practically sit on her lap, telling him to just "plant one on her." So failing once again, I glared at them with a glare that would sizzle their insides. This glare I learned from my mother. I than went on to lecture them that Meg would make these decisions for herself and that, unlike some of them, she didn't need someone to think for her. This got the response of,'"Geez Meg, your sister is a happy person!" Meg just continued to eat her pizza. I don't ever remember hugging in jr high the way these little ones do. They were constantly whining for hugs from 3 of the boys (the other unfortunate boy, not so much) Every 15 seconds ONE of them would be all over ALL of them. Maybe this is why I am manless, maybe these young ones just get it, I should have paid better attention. The night began to come to a close and the boys were packing up to leave. You would have thought it was the boys party by the amount of attention they were getting. So they were saying their goodbyes and hugging.....again. I could have sworn there were tears in the girls eyes, all of them but Meg's. At this point I kissed my baby sister goodnight, probably another not cool thing to do, and escaped to my room for bed. Even being a whole floor away, with my door closed (actually it's not a door, it is a piece of wood I prop in front of the door frame to block light and noice) and the fan on, I could still her them. Toby this and Griffin that. These girls were obsessed. I smashed my pillow over my face, leaving a hole for me to breath, because I panic if I dont have fresh air to breath, and finally drifted of into an annoyed slumber at 3 AM. 7:45........ "TOBY LEFT ME A VOICE MAIL! heheheheh" "LIKE OMG REALLY?" all of this right outside my piece of wood. I hauled my body out of my room and into the hall, drool on my face, hair tangled, and glared. Meg looked exactly the same. This is why Meg and I are going to be fine, we are going to get along great. SO here I sit at 10:43. Pizza and leftover chocolate cake in my lap, the party ends in 17 minutes and all will be right at home. Thanks you mom and dad for raising us, thank you Meg for not counting calories with me. I love you, happy bithday to you!

Dancing, take note Meg and I aren't in this photo.

This is what the party consisted of for me.

Take Another Road

I kind of updated my blog several days ago, I just changed the back ground and that was all. No big deal. I came home from work the next day and sat down at the table to eat my favorite after work meal, spegettios. Papa came up from his office and said, "sis I like your new blog" then went back down to work. He was the only one to comment on the new update. When I showed my mom my background I told her that dad was the first, and only one to say anything about it. She simply stated, "He checks your blogs everyday." I've been thinking about my dad a lot lately. I recently went to Idaho with some friends a couple of weekends ago, and because they have terrible taste in music I brought along all of my mix CDs. We were driving home on Sunday, it was late and we were tired. The girl was in the back seat sleeping, the other was driving, and I was sitting quietly in the front seat. A familiar tune started to play, Jimmy Buffett's Take Another Road. I love this song, it has always been my favorite. Jimmy Buffett is wild and crazy, and most of his songs are rather ridiculous, but every now and then he can write something that really sings to the soul. This song is one of those. As it played I stared out the window and up at the stars. At that moment memories of the many road trips my family has taken began to swirl through my memory. I've never been one to sleep on road trips, I must have gotten that from my dad, because 23 minutes into any driving vacation my mom is zonked, head back, mouth open sleeping. My dad is the perfect DJ on road trips. He plays all of our favorites, the Beatles, KC, Jackson Browne, Jack Johnson, our Uber Fly Musica Mix, and then winds it down with good ol' James. It is somewhere between Frozen Man and September Grass that Haylie and Meg fall asleep. Meg in the middle with her head in Haylies Lap and her feet in mine, head back, mouth open. And Haylie behind my mom with her squishy blue pillow rolled up and tucked between the seatbelt and window, head back, mouth open. And then there's me, behind dad, the two of us silent so we dont wake our sleeping beauties. It has always been like this, for 18 years. But my favorite part of this all is when Papa is certain they're all asleep and Baby James is done playing, dad will pop in Jimmy Buffet, skip to my favorite song, look in the rear view mirror and quietly whisper, "Sis, ya alright?" "Yep" is all I've ever had to say, because at that moment I am perfectly content. There is no need for chit chat or joking, just that one question and then the quiet drive ahead of us. As I was looking at the stars I thought of the countless nights that my dad and I have soaked in the hot tub, while he taught me the names of the constellations and the history and stories behind them. These are the moments I will treasure the most, the quiet and peaceful moments with just me and my dad, when I didn't have to share him with anyone.