I've been thinking of how to write this post in a way that really portrays how amazing The Woman Who Shaped Me was, but nothing really seemed to do her justice. Those of you who knew her already know the type of person she was, and I hope that there are glimpses of her in me. So instead of explaining her and the 25 years I spent with her, I decided to just run through some memories that stick out in my mind.
That shelf of bells was just too tempting for me to resist, or so I hear, I was still young enough that I couldn't walk yet and don't remember. The Woman Who Shaped Me would tell me not to touch the bells, slap my hand, and then watch as I held her gaze and reached over to knock one from the shelf. As I got older The Woman Who Shaped Me turned my obsession with the bells into an obsession with cleaning. It was my job to take a big bucket of soapy water and clean each individual bell on the shelf. I of course thought this was wonderful and so expanded my cleaning to every little whatnot and figurine in the entire house, and if you knew The Woman Who Shaped Me, you know she had a lot of them. As an adult she let me go through and pick out which bells I wanted from the shelf to take to my own house, and so now they sit in my hallway in my most of the time clean house. Thanks for making me a clean freak!
I remember being in the kitchen more than any other room in the house growing up. The linoleum floor had patterns that made perfect roads to drive my cars on, swerving in between the legs of The Woman Who Shaped Me, sometimes crashing into her feet. I would also find ways to hide my little body in the cabinets so I could surprise The Woman Who Shaped Me when she'd open them. I had a little stool to stand on next to The Woman Who Shaped Me so I could reach the counter and help her sort out the bad beans or flatten the dough for the homemade biscuits. I'd get to hold the mixer when making cakes and tried to learn how to decorate the cakes the way she did. If ever I didn't like what was for dinner then The Woman Who Shaped Me would just make me a grilled cheese, with Miracle Whip of course. Unfortunately as an adult the kitchen is a mystery to me, I can barely make my own grilled cheese. What did stick was my refusal to eat certain foods. Thanks for aiding me in being a picky eater!
When I was born The Woman Who Shaped Me immediately took me as her own. When I had a splinter in my foot from refusing to ever wear shoes, she would use a sewing needle to perform delicate surgical removal of the splinter. I of course screamed and cried like I was going through an amputation. When we would sit in church for what seemed like hours, The Woman Who Shaped Me would let me lay my head over on her shoulder, which still seems to be the most comfortable thing I've ever laid my head on. I'd hold her hand and run my thumb over the tips of her fingernails, which always looked exactly the same to me the entire 25 years. Even as an adult I'd still sit by her on her bed with my head on her shoulder, holding her hand, feeling safe and worry free. Thanks for showing me true comfort!
As long as I can remember The Woman Who Shaped Me had the job of taking care of people. She did this as a profession, with her husband, sisters, daughters, grandkids, nieces, nephews, etc. I can't really remember a time that she ever put herself in front of what others needed. Almost anything I wanted or needed she would work for me to have. Sometimes I couldn't understand how The Woman Who Shaped Me could turn around and be there for someone after they had treated her so badly, but she always did. I never witnessed The Woman Who Shaped Me being cruel to anyone, and as for me I never received any sort of punishments from her. Thank you for showing me what real selflessness and forgiveness looks like!
Excitement over the holidays, family, stories of the past, cleaning, loving, acceptance, patience, so much more. These are the things The Woman Who Shaped Me helped me understand, appreciate, and carry on in my own life. Every day I wish I could continue to learn more from her, but I know now that I just have to take that light she gave me and keep passing it on to everyone I encounter and hope I make her proud. Even though I'm the combined product of everyone I've had in my life, she is definitely The Woman Who Shaped Me.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
The Girl With The Laugh
It was one of those days where I felt completely random and hyper, a day where I would do most anything that popped into my head. Thankfully that is when The Girl With The Laugh happened to be walking past the bus I was on. I saw her coming and decided I would talk to this stranger, be silly, and make her laugh. Of course just as other times I'm randomly drawn to people, The With The Laugh and I became friends almost instantaneously.
The Girl With The Laugh was as silly as me and so we decided to play a trick on one of my friends. I told her to go run up to him, pretend she knew him, and give him a hug. Of course she did it, I knew this was a fun friend I wanted. Luckily we talked a bit more and discovered a future friendship was totally possible as we were both attending the same college the next year! For the remainder of high school we would occasionally chat, run into each other at special college days, etc.
Then it was time for college, and The Girl With The Laugh was the only friend I had going in. One by one we expanded our friendship group, like my roommate "Pickle" and The Boy With The Shoes. We would just ride around listening to good music, visit thrift stores, or anything else we could come up with. We had "Tie Day Friday"and were often known to be trying to solve the mystery of Henry, the OBU bell tower inhabitant.
Eventually I started meeting other people and branched out to other groups where I wasn't around The Girl With The Laugh as often. We somewhat grew apart, but remained friends. Years later we are still friends and rekindled our long ago bond in a drunken giggle-fest at our friend's wedding.
The Girl With The Laugh is just one of those friends that you have so much in common with that you can't help but be friends. Eventually I hope that we live in the same city again so we can make tons of new memories like watching episodes of "Teen Mom" or pretend we know complete strangers. Plus I can't help but keep a smile on my face when I hear the very distinguishable sound of joy that comes from The Girl With The Laugh.
The Girl With The Laugh was as silly as me and so we decided to play a trick on one of my friends. I told her to go run up to him, pretend she knew him, and give him a hug. Of course she did it, I knew this was a fun friend I wanted. Luckily we talked a bit more and discovered a future friendship was totally possible as we were both attending the same college the next year! For the remainder of high school we would occasionally chat, run into each other at special college days, etc.
Then it was time for college, and The Girl With The Laugh was the only friend I had going in. One by one we expanded our friendship group, like my roommate "Pickle" and The Boy With The Shoes. We would just ride around listening to good music, visit thrift stores, or anything else we could come up with. We had "Tie Day Friday"and were often known to be trying to solve the mystery of Henry, the OBU bell tower inhabitant.
Eventually I started meeting other people and branched out to other groups where I wasn't around The Girl With The Laugh as often. We somewhat grew apart, but remained friends. Years later we are still friends and rekindled our long ago bond in a drunken giggle-fest at our friend's wedding.
The Girl With The Laugh is just one of those friends that you have so much in common with that you can't help but be friends. Eventually I hope that we live in the same city again so we can make tons of new memories like watching episodes of "Teen Mom" or pretend we know complete strangers. Plus I can't help but keep a smile on my face when I hear the very distinguishable sound of joy that comes from The Girl With The Laugh.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
The Boy With My Heart
The first time I saw him he was wearing a Nintendo shirt with all of my favorite characters on it, thus earning him his first golden coin.
Right away I knew he was going to be someone different with his first words to me being, "Oh my gosh, YOUR EYES! They're beautiful!" Second golden coin. It was like he used some sort of power up that allowed him to see into my life and adjust his interests to link up perfectly with mine. He collected coin after coin the more we figured out.
The Boy was able to press all the right buttons that resulted in a combo attack on the walls I had put up, knocking them down and jumping over the hurdles that would make a short Italian plumber jealous. Our lives just seemed to synchronize effortlessly. The more time we spent together, the more we realized we had really discovered something special, a hidden area on this level of our lives that we had passed over and over before.
As fun and exciting as it all was though, it was also scary. There was no strategy guide released that could tell us which paths to take to avoid any traps, or where to find the secret items that would make us invincible to any enemies along the way. But then the Boy and I realized that sometimes you just have to explore the new worlds you encounter, and this was definitely something new.
Eventually the Boy traded in all the coins he had earned, allowing him to level up and receive my heart as the prize. There were a few boss battles along the way for me as well, such as meeting his family, but of course I got a new high score that earned me my place as number one and my turn to level up.
Even though the Boy With My Heart and I have played through adventures that resemble the one we are on now, this one is definitely an updated version and have yet to see where exactly the story leads. But I feel confident that just like every Mario or Zelda game, the Boy With My Heart and I will play level after level, on all the sequels and consoles, to save our love and avoid a game over.
Right away I knew he was going to be someone different with his first words to me being, "Oh my gosh, YOUR EYES! They're beautiful!" Second golden coin. It was like he used some sort of power up that allowed him to see into my life and adjust his interests to link up perfectly with mine. He collected coin after coin the more we figured out.
The Boy was able to press all the right buttons that resulted in a combo attack on the walls I had put up, knocking them down and jumping over the hurdles that would make a short Italian plumber jealous. Our lives just seemed to synchronize effortlessly. The more time we spent together, the more we realized we had really discovered something special, a hidden area on this level of our lives that we had passed over and over before.
As fun and exciting as it all was though, it was also scary. There was no strategy guide released that could tell us which paths to take to avoid any traps, or where to find the secret items that would make us invincible to any enemies along the way. But then the Boy and I realized that sometimes you just have to explore the new worlds you encounter, and this was definitely something new.
Eventually the Boy traded in all the coins he had earned, allowing him to level up and receive my heart as the prize. There were a few boss battles along the way for me as well, such as meeting his family, but of course I got a new high score that earned me my place as number one and my turn to level up.
Even though the Boy With My Heart and I have played through adventures that resemble the one we are on now, this one is definitely an updated version and have yet to see where exactly the story leads. But I feel confident that just like every Mario or Zelda game, the Boy With My Heart and I will play level after level, on all the sequels and consoles, to save our love and avoid a game over.
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