Life Unfolding

Yesterday i mentioned how much i love my friends (or if i wasn't specific: i love them dearly and hugely).  I love watching their lives unfold.  I love sharing their happiness and their sadness and keeping their secrets and laughing and crying with them.

There's been a lot of life unfolding lately.  Big changes are happening for a lot of my loved ones.  And i just want them all to know this:  you are amazing and i'm so lucky and glad to know you.  You will do great, and life will continue to blossom and bloom in unexpected and affirming ways.  Thanks for letting me be a part of it!


{ this concludes my hippie moment of the day }

108

Down another pound, despite indulging over the weekend while my wonderful and dear friend, Lisa stayed for a long weekend.  Why is it that when I want to celebrate, I want to do so with food?  Oh, the customs of our country.  Blah blah blah.

Anyway, here's Lisa holding a dead tarantula wasp. 

Our friends Misha and Su Won went with, also:

Lisa at Bell Rock, near Sedona (on Lisa's birthday):

Such a fun weekend.  I love you, Lisi-friend!  Please come back very soon!  (And yes, i will definitely be taking you up on a trip to LA to stay with you for a girls-only weekend!)

Magical People

In Monterey in 1990, I met a girl named Lisa De Avila.  She radiated light.  She was fun, sweet, positive, outgoing, adventurous, creative, magnetic...think of any positive adjectives and you can most certainly use them in a sentence about Lisa.  Not to say she was perfect; no one is, but if ever there was a magical person that you could be around 24/7 and not feel for a moment anything less than bliss, that was Lisa. 
And guess what?  That is still Lisa! 

I had breakfast with Lisa on Tuesday, after not seeing her for almost 20 years.  Light still shines from her.  She is still creative and smart and amazing.  She makes me want to improve my life, improve myself especially.  And not because she would ever send out the vibe that someone should change, you know what I mean?  You just want to because in Lisa you see the potential for happiness that exists in the world. 

And before I start sounding like a weird stalker, I will just stop there.  Do you know any magical people?  Do they make you want to be more positive or somehow make changes in your life?  I feel so seriously blessed to know one of these special creatures.  She's coming out for some girls' time soon and I just can't wait!

Have the most wonderfully beautiful day ever!

Smooch!

Blast From the Past: Old Friends, My First 35mm Camera, and General Hospital

I am giggling just writing this!  This first picture is me (on the right, with my VERY FIRST 35mm camera) with my wonderful friend Lisa and her equally wonderful dad, circa 1990.  Lisa and I were stationed at DLI in the Air Force.  We lived next-door to each other for a while.  She was (and is) one of my favorite people on the entire planet.  She took a bunch of us down to LA to stay with her fam.  Great times!  Great memories!  I'm going to see Lisa soon...SO excited!

Lisa's dad worked at ABC studios and took us on a tour.  We played on the set of General Hospital.  I'm the one serving coffee on the far left.  Bwahahaha!  That was soooo fun!  Everything with Lisa was fun!

Disneyland, circa 1990.  Matt & me, hanging with the pigs!

How to Save a Life

"Step one, you say 'we need to talk', he walks, you say 'sit down, it's just a talk....' (The Fray)

So I get a phone call at 6 a.m. from a friend in another city, in another state, who is drunk--very drunk and we start talking. I want to talk about why he's so drunk at 5 a.m. (his time). We go into issues, talk about loving yourself, all that.

Then he tells me he's just taken 50 mg. of Ambien on top of all that alcohol. I don't know much about Ambien so I call Poison Control. They tell me he can go to sleep and stop breathing and that I need to call an ambulance for my friend.

My heart sinks.

I tell my friend this news and he begs me not to.

But what choice do I have?

So I call for help, in another city, in another state. I tell them who I am and for whom I'm calling and what the situation is.

I tell my friend that my rescue friends are coming over just to check on him.

He tells me he doesn't want to go to the medical center...again.

I tell him I'm sorry. I hope he won't hate me. Or hold it against me.

But at least he will be around to do so.


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Proof of My Existence

You know those "Coming-of-Age" movies involving young friends who have such a tight bond that it just makes you all heart-achey and gushy? They share good times, tragedy, life changes, and they remain close through it all? You know, like Stand by Me, and all those. Those are friends who are so deeply rooted in your heart that if they're no longer in your life, you have a little hollow spot inside where they should be.

Shortly after my dad died in 1982, my mom and I moved from our Woodbridge, Virginia home, which I had lived in for the first 13 years of my life, to a small rural community in central VA. I missed my friends, especially Laura. My father's death had a huge negative impact on me; I was numb and barely functional for many years. I saw Laura only once in the years that followed. During that visit, I learned that her father had died like my own. That made our bond even stronger. After high school, I joined the Air Force and served mainly overseas in Japan. I never stopped thinking of my old friends back in Woodbridge. Laura and I tried to reconnect here and there, but missed by months or miles.

Yesterday, I thought to search for Laura on Facebook. There she was, right there on my computer screen. My heart skipped a beat; I quickly sent a "friend request." An hour later, a chat window popped up. Technology is great, but nothing beats the sound of an old friend's voice. We talked for over an hour on the phone. We laughed, reminisced, and I cried. A little hollow spot in my heart had been refilled. I can't tell you how much it means to me to be in touch with Laura again. And Wendy, and Tina.... You were all such a big part of my life back then. I look forward to more laughs and more memories in the making!

And now I'll stop being a sentimental (or maybe just mental) dork and post some pix from "back in the day."

Me, Laura, Sonya, Wendy on our way to a school dance. I thought I was hot stuff! These girls were so fun! Sonya and I used to roller skate and sing that song, "I want you to want me...." Wendy always thought up the funniest stuff. One little tune she sang once when we were goofing off at her house was, "Needles and pines sticking in your spines." That was soooooooo hilarious back then. Okay, it still is! Laura and I always seemed to be having seances. We summoned the spirit of John Lennon just a week after he died and when we did, the candle we were chanting to blew out, the electricity went out, and the phone rang once...spooky! We all used to do "light as a feather, stiff as a board." I remember doing that at one of Wendy's slumber parties...it worked, but I have no idea why.

Laura and me in D.C.

Me holding Shane, Laura's parakeet.

Heather, Laura, Wendy, and me holding the 13th Commandment, which we thought was just hilarious! I remember Heather giggling at my dad's funeral. Heather, Laura, Wendy and I had gone into the chapel alone and were sitting in a pew. Heather started giggling. Laura and Wendy were trying to get her to stop and be respectful, but honestly, I was grateful for the laughter. I needed it!

Laura, thanks for letting me steal these pix off Facebook! Not that I asked first....

I love you girls!



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A Friend Like That

A true-to-the-heart friend who GETS you and loves and accepts you despite all your various flaws and shortcomings is a treasure on Earth. You know, the one you can say ANYTHING to and she will understand it from your perspective. You will not have to spend hours trying to explain yourself. She already knows. And if she doesn't, she will fry her brain trying. And you know her the same way. It's a magic and precious bond.

I am a lucky girl, because I have a few of those. Let me tell you about one in particular, since Allie's 2-year anniversary of having type 1 diabetes is this Saturday and diabetes plays into this story.

(Insert waves or "diddly doo's" here)

It was an early Saturday morning in June 2007 as Todd and I headed out the door to walk to the park across the street from our house to take part in the Primary activity (our church's program for kids). Reaching the corner, we merged with more foot traffic: Amy, another Primary teacher and neighbor 2 blocks away who I recognized but didn't know well, and her kids.

As we stood watching the kids laughing and playing water games, a deep feeling came to me: I knew somehow in that moment that Amy was going to be a huge, monumental part of my life. It was almost like a revelation, it was so strong. I looked at her and pondered who this chick was and how she would come to be so integral to my life. I also thought my plan of not getting attached to anyone in this ward just might be foiled.

Let me note here that when I meet someone, or am getting to know someone, I have to reeeeally tone down my personality. I'm a total and complete nutball and am wide-open. To say that I can be misunderstood is a vast understatement. I know that I overwhelm some people. Some people can't handle me, and I'm totally okay with that. Not everyone has to like me or want to go along with my wild schemes. (Betsy, sorry I got us pulled over by the cops...twice. What? We were on rollerblades! That's all I'll say).

So when I got this knowledge that Amy and I were going to bond in some way, I thought, "Fantastic! I can skip the whole toned down, polite and respectful Sandi and get straight to the sarcasm and farting."

It was so freeing and refreshing! Amy, however, didn't seem to know quite how to take it. hehehe. Okay, so I still had to tone it down a bit.

Amy and I slowly got to know each other. I told her about Allie having type 1 diabetes and the stress and heartbreak that goes along with it. I told her about Todd and me, about this and that, and our friendship started to grow.

Then one day I got a phone call. It was Amy calling from the hospital. Her 10-year-old son, Caden, had developed type 1 diabetes. I cried, I cussed, I told her it would be okay, that I would help her get through this. I felt so blessed to be able to be there for her through this life-changing event.

Who would've known I would be the one to receive the bigger blessing?

Soon after their stay in the hospital, Amy and Caden returned home to a much altered life full of lancets, test strips, glucose meters, syringes, insulin, calculations and carb counting. To say the least, it is extremely overwhelming.

One night as I lay on the couch talking to Todd, there was a knock on the door. Todd got up to answer it and in whooshed a tearful and snotty Amy. She was in quite the state. I grabbed and hugged her, apologizing for my stinky pits. She snotted on my shoulder and apologized for that. That we could worry about manners in an apparent emergency makes me giggle now.

I asked what was wrong. I thought something terrible had happened to Caden.

Amy told me that a visiting family member had put butter and milk in the mashed potatoes and now Caden couldn't eat them because she couldn't count the carbs and she was upset because Caden loves mashed potatoes and she just wanted him to be able to eat some mashed potatoes!

People, let me tell you, I cried into a pot of beef stew someone had brought us when Allie got out of the hospital after her diagnosis. I couldn't count those carbs to save my life. The kind sister had put noodles AND potatoes and carrots in them and it fried my brain. Of course, both Amy and I can the carbs in anything you put in front of us now, but in the first days, it sucked butt.

So anyway, I smiled at Amy and told her it was okay. I wanted to giggle, and I might have (did I, Aimes?) and I reminded her of my beef stew story. My heart broke for her. Todd spoke up and assured Amy that I was a complete and utter mess for the first month after Allie's dx, and that Amy was doing was much better than I had (and that's the truth!). I had to cry along with Amy, because I could feel what she was feeling. There's a bond between type 1 moms, I tell you.

We looked up the carbs in the Calorie King book, Amy felt stupid (which she shouldn't have) and apologized for snotting on me (which also didn't warrant an apology). She went home and counted carbs, got right back up on the saddle and went on. She's a much stronger person than I am.

What was the bigger blessing I received? It is through our love and service to others that our own hearts are healed and our lives change for the better. We find our strength. Having someone to share not only the "normal, everyday" ups and downs of life, but someone who also understands the very complex emotional pain of having a child with type 1 diabetes, is a blessing beyond words. I believe Amy and I were drawn to this neighborhood for this reason: to lift one another up. She has held me up on many occasions. To the rest of the world, we're just two girlfriends out shopping and being silly. And we are. But, with a knowing smile, Amy and I understand that we go much deeper than that.

Amy, thanks for putting up with me; I know I can be a pain in the hoinkus. And Aimes, you can snot on me any time, day or night. That's what true-to-the-heart friends do for each other. They take the good with the bad, the difficult with the easy, the snot with the tears. It's all good.

I love you, Amy!


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Saturday Snow?

Saturday, a new marketplace near us hauled in 20 tons of snow and I really wanted Bryce to see snow, so we all drove over. We met our friend Gina and her kids. Unfortunately, the line to have a turn in the snow was about a mile long and it was humid and 100 degrees. We were just not going to stand in that line.

Bryce got to hang out on a fire truck, though. Super cool!

Then we grabbed lunch at the best Italian deli ever (LaSpada's) and took it to our house to chow down. I tried to grab a pic of my friend G and her daughter, but they BOTH tried to duck out! (Like mother like daughter, I guess). But HAHA I have a wide angle lens, so they couldn't fully escape.

Allie went home with G, so later I got to hang at G's house. I LOVE hanging with G!

Later that night, Todd and I took Bryce for a walk. This is how he chose to seat himself for the entire journey:

It was a fun day, after the trauma of the morning when my friend Amy's sister had an EXTREME low blood sugar and seizures. I went over to sit and give support...I will probably write more about that on our type 1 diabetes blog, but for now, my mind is still in shock from the event. Amy's sis is okay, though.