It has been a Bekah-land sort of weekend. Need I say more? You might be wishing I wouldn’t – but you know me better than that.
Thursday night I stopped by the little gas station around the corner to pick up some chocolate milk for the next day. Friday was a vacation day for me and all good vacation days include chocolate milk at the start. So I wandered in – kind of late that evening – and one of the guys who works there waved at me. He used to work the morning shift – when I used to go in every morning before work for a pop – so I saw him every day. But now he works the overnight hours and goodness knows I have no need for caffeine then.
When I got up to the front of the line to pay for my milk, he said to me, “Where’d you go to high school?” I told him, and he said, “I know more about you than you think I know!” My eyebrows shot straight up on that one. It turns out that he discovered his wife and I were in the same class in high school – and given the odd spelling of my name, he made the connection that I was the same one she talked about when she took trips down memory lane. So we caught up – and he told me that she worked at another station across town.
So…the next morning, I got up and on my way out of town for my small road triplet, I stopped where she works. Now he’d told me that he was going to relay the message to her that I would be coming to visit. Don’t you know that he forgot? So over the exchange of money for my Krispy Kreme, I asked the cashier if Heather was around, and she called her out to the front. Heather said to me, “May I help you?” I said, “Hey!!” As she gave me a totally blank stare, I realized she had no idea a.) who I was, or b.) that I was coming to see her.
But she recovered quickly, figured out who I was, and we had the nicest little catch up session there in the back room of the gas station. But here’s the part that killed me. She told me I became the matter of discussion that led her husband to realize he knew me when her daughter developed a fascination with watching Little House on the Prairie. Now, if you don’t know me well, I’ll have to make a slight confession here.
Back in the day, I was a huge Little House fan. Mom had to schedule dinner around channel 23’s late afternoon showing of Little House. I pitched a fit of gargantuan proportion when I had to miss any episode. And for a while (I so cannot believe I’m divulging this information) I even kept my own running episode guide in a pink notebook. Complete with show titles. I know. I know. GET A LIFE. And Heather knew of this obsession because one week when I was on vacation, I knew there were some episodes coming up that I didn’t have titles for, and I requested that she watch the first five minutes of Little House every day to grab the titles for me.
Other people get pet sitters or mail gatherers when they go on vacation. I assign someone to watch a syndicated TV show to get the title for me. I need therapy. However, I will say that it provided a rather amusing pastime for my college roommates. During my freshman year, Little House aired at 8 or 9 in the morning, and they would make me leave the room (where I was getting ready for class) when it first came on until the title would pass – and then they would call me back in. They proceeded to time me to see how long it took me to guess the title. My average was under five seconds – and I rarely missed even a single word of the title. And for as pathetic as that is, I think it’s pretty good.
It all gave brand new meaning to “I know more about you than you think,” though. Frightens me to know that my neighborhood gas station buddy knows this about me.
So anyway. So many other things happened this weekend that made it the sordid conglomeration of events that it was – but allow me to share just one more.
My small road triplet took me about 2 ½ hours away to the home of one of my college roommates, her husband, and their daughter. Christina, Emily and I spent Friday together, and we had a great time catching up. When Andrew came home from work, the three of us spent the evening hanging out, playing a game, and watching TV. When it was time to go to sleep, I joked with Christina, “I’ll try not to sleep in until 11 like I do at home.”
I curled up in the guest room and kept one eye on the clock all night – forcing myself to wake up every hour or so just to make sure I didn’t sleep too late. Around 8:40 in the morning, I decided to get up – I’d heard them all stirring and it just seemed like a good medium time to get up – not too early, not too late. I went into the bathroom, took my shower, did my hair and makeup, came out, strolled into the bedroom, grabbed my cell phone to put it in my pocket, and glanced at the time while I did. 12:40. WHAT?? I yanked my watch out of my suitcase. 12:40. I looked up at the bedroom clock. Flashing 9:23. Flashing, I say!!!! Apparently the power went out…and I failed to notice that tiny detail.
I was so mortified. But I had to get down the stairs to get out the door. Christina was putting away dishes, Emily was chasing Andrew around, and I said, “Uh, hi.” Christina just said, “Would you like a donut or do you want lunch?”
MAMA!!!!!
Thursday night I stopped by the little gas station around the corner to pick up some chocolate milk for the next day. Friday was a vacation day for me and all good vacation days include chocolate milk at the start. So I wandered in – kind of late that evening – and one of the guys who works there waved at me. He used to work the morning shift – when I used to go in every morning before work for a pop – so I saw him every day. But now he works the overnight hours and goodness knows I have no need for caffeine then.
When I got up to the front of the line to pay for my milk, he said to me, “Where’d you go to high school?” I told him, and he said, “I know more about you than you think I know!” My eyebrows shot straight up on that one. It turns out that he discovered his wife and I were in the same class in high school – and given the odd spelling of my name, he made the connection that I was the same one she talked about when she took trips down memory lane. So we caught up – and he told me that she worked at another station across town.
So…the next morning, I got up and on my way out of town for my small road triplet, I stopped where she works. Now he’d told me that he was going to relay the message to her that I would be coming to visit. Don’t you know that he forgot? So over the exchange of money for my Krispy Kreme, I asked the cashier if Heather was around, and she called her out to the front. Heather said to me, “May I help you?” I said, “Hey!!” As she gave me a totally blank stare, I realized she had no idea a.) who I was, or b.) that I was coming to see her.
But she recovered quickly, figured out who I was, and we had the nicest little catch up session there in the back room of the gas station. But here’s the part that killed me. She told me I became the matter of discussion that led her husband to realize he knew me when her daughter developed a fascination with watching Little House on the Prairie. Now, if you don’t know me well, I’ll have to make a slight confession here.
Back in the day, I was a huge Little House fan. Mom had to schedule dinner around channel 23’s late afternoon showing of Little House. I pitched a fit of gargantuan proportion when I had to miss any episode. And for a while (I so cannot believe I’m divulging this information) I even kept my own running episode guide in a pink notebook. Complete with show titles. I know. I know. GET A LIFE. And Heather knew of this obsession because one week when I was on vacation, I knew there were some episodes coming up that I didn’t have titles for, and I requested that she watch the first five minutes of Little House every day to grab the titles for me.
Other people get pet sitters or mail gatherers when they go on vacation. I assign someone to watch a syndicated TV show to get the title for me. I need therapy. However, I will say that it provided a rather amusing pastime for my college roommates. During my freshman year, Little House aired at 8 or 9 in the morning, and they would make me leave the room (where I was getting ready for class) when it first came on until the title would pass – and then they would call me back in. They proceeded to time me to see how long it took me to guess the title. My average was under five seconds – and I rarely missed even a single word of the title. And for as pathetic as that is, I think it’s pretty good.
It all gave brand new meaning to “I know more about you than you think,” though. Frightens me to know that my neighborhood gas station buddy knows this about me.
So anyway. So many other things happened this weekend that made it the sordid conglomeration of events that it was – but allow me to share just one more.
My small road triplet took me about 2 ½ hours away to the home of one of my college roommates, her husband, and their daughter. Christina, Emily and I spent Friday together, and we had a great time catching up. When Andrew came home from work, the three of us spent the evening hanging out, playing a game, and watching TV. When it was time to go to sleep, I joked with Christina, “I’ll try not to sleep in until 11 like I do at home.”
I curled up in the guest room and kept one eye on the clock all night – forcing myself to wake up every hour or so just to make sure I didn’t sleep too late. Around 8:40 in the morning, I decided to get up – I’d heard them all stirring and it just seemed like a good medium time to get up – not too early, not too late. I went into the bathroom, took my shower, did my hair and makeup, came out, strolled into the bedroom, grabbed my cell phone to put it in my pocket, and glanced at the time while I did. 12:40. WHAT?? I yanked my watch out of my suitcase. 12:40. I looked up at the bedroom clock. Flashing 9:23. Flashing, I say!!!! Apparently the power went out…and I failed to notice that tiny detail.
I was so mortified. But I had to get down the stairs to get out the door. Christina was putting away dishes, Emily was chasing Andrew around, and I said, “Uh, hi.” Christina just said, “Would you like a donut or do you want lunch?”
MAMA!!!!!
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