"Party in Hawaii" or "My Obit"

It's Monday morning, 12:39am.  Here I sit attempting to get my creative writing ideas to flow out my finger tips.  I'm finding it a bit difficult to do with this giant elephant sitting on my chest.  Guess I'm going to have to break down and call the doctor's office later today.  The pleasant side of this morning is the comfortable climate in our house.  I'm actually sitting here in my lightweight nightgown incredibly comfortable. That is not a normal occurrence.  For the past, hmmmm.... has to be about five years now, I've been living in a combination of peri and true menopause.  Needless to say, I'm a human furnace.  Tonight, that works to my benefit - our actual furnace quit working.  John and #4 aren't so happy about it, but they'll live.  I've got them each wrapped up in electric blankets and the fire's burning in our bedroom fireplace.

Saturday night we met some dear friends, Tom and Colleen, for dinner and a movie. (McFarland, TX if anyone's interested - man do I lust for Kevin Costner)  T & C are those friends that came into our lives as the parents of #1's best friend.  Tom is a lot like John.  Pretty laid back.  He doesn't need to raise his voice to get his point across.  A look from him can stop a son at 50 yards.  Colleen is the real life version of "Glenda", the Good Witch.  She speaks with a delightfully happy, calming lilt to her voice.  She can find the positive in just about anything.  She is the cheerleader for all the underdogs. And because of this, I can't sit by my dear friend during baseball games.

The straw that broke our stadium seating came during a high school baseball game.  One of our outfielders dropped a ball.  Dropped, as in, never got a glove on the freaking ball.  It dropped out of the sky in front of him.  And there sat Colleen, clapping and cheering.  I looked at her as if she had lost her freaking mind. What the hell was she doing?  And then if it couldn't get worse, she hollers, "It's okay, good try.  You can do it next time!  Good try!"  I looked at her with all the love and as little distain I could muster and said, "No Colleen, it was NOT a good try.  It was horrible.  It was a textbook catch.  Coach needs to pull his behind!"  After that, we hugged hello before the game, went to dinner after the game but NEVER sat next to each other during a game.

Other than our diversity in cheerfulness, we actually share a lot in common.  She's a boys mom too. They have three sons. All their sons were deep into sports as well.  Their boys, however, are older than ours.  Their baby is equal in age to our oldest.  Needless to say, over the years T&C have shared their experiences and on occasion given us a "heads ups".

It was over dinner that Tom mentioned my blog.  He said that Colleen had indicated that she had read it and really enjoyed it.  Tom asked what John thought of it.  At that point my husband said, "Blog, what blog?".  That's become a common joke between us since February 10th.  I guess some of John's friends have read it.  But when they mention anything about it to him, he plays dumb.  Hmmm, I always just assumed he was playing!!  I said he wouldn't take notice until I could "show him the money".  That lead to a discussion of bank accounts; his and her's, his, hers. Colleen made mention that her paycheck had gone down a bit since she had picked up medical and life insurance.  I commented that I had just lowered the amount of coverage we had on me (and increased what we had on John).  After all the boys were mostly grown.  It's not like John would have to replace me with a cook, housekeeper and taxi service.  They were all self sufficient.  

As we continued talking about the coverage amounts we were carrying.  I said there would be enough for me to be cremated and fly everyone to Hawaii for a giant send off party.  Tom said it sounded like a good time. John assured Tom he'd get an invitation.  (Seriously?!?) I'm not sure if I should be worried about their laissez-faire attitude regarding my demise.  I reminded them, emphatically, that it wasn't anything that was going to occur in the near future.  John said for me not to worry, he'd plan a great party.  I mentioned that I wasn't worried about him planning a party.  I was a bit concerned about my obituary.  I can see it now:  Michelle Davis Baker, wife, and mother.  She was born in (??), she grew up somewhere in Alabama.  She was active in lots of stuff.  Celebration of Life sunset ceremony planned in Kauai, Hawaii.  All welcome.  Now, I know I'm being ridiculous. There is NO way this could be my obit. It's longer than the allotted 25 word free one the paper throws in.

Glenda laughed and assured me that John would never do that (I still maintain she had questioning eyes when she said that).  Tom just laughed.  And John suggested I go ahead and write my own and that I could then post it on my blog.........

Have a great day!  May the elephants leave my chest and the house warm up to temperatures my family can function in.

Aloha...........................