back in the day....in my face.

I am going to start the blog out with a fact or two. I was in a sorority. Are you judging me yet?  In high school I was a cheerleader and now my kid plays soccer so I guess I am a "soccer mom" Pretty sure if you weren't judging me before, you are now.  I am also an artist and self proclaimed suburban hippie. All of these images might seem conflicting until you get to know all parties involved.  

My niece is now in the same sorority that I was in. It has been fun to see her enjoy it and go back and visit at the same place that I lived. When I walk in it feels like I walked into a time machine that  landed in the late 90's. The house pretty much looks the same.  The first few times I went to see my niece I was sort of uncomfortable.  I saw myself as I was. I am in my mid 30's, I am driving a minivan that is full of kid stuff, yet walking around the house I felt like I was 19.  It was conflicting enough that it felt kind of uncomfortable.

My niece invited me to sell my art this past weekend at Mom's weekend.  The art selling itself went great! This was the first time that I saw most of the girls in the house. When I visit they are all usually studying or just hanging out.  They all came in and out of the basement looking at art, chit chatting about their weekend. All of a sudden I was focusing on them. I heard their attitudes, the way they spoke, and their plans for the evening. I was quickly matching up their personalities with the gals that I lived with. I know that sounds crazy. There are around a hundred girls that live in that house. There will always be the partiers, the girls who are natural leaders, who are mean, ones who lead bible study, the ones that make people laugh, the ones that make anyone feel comfortable, and the ones that make everyone uncomfortable.  I think it is just how it goes.  It was hard to put into words how this past weekend made me appreciate my time living there. 

I came from a small town and am an only child. I never shared a room with anyone until I got to college.  My hometown was a great place to grow up, but had little to no diversity.  When I got to the sorority, there were people from other countries,  people from other states, people of all religions.  As stressful as college can be, the amount of free time we actually had was amazing. We sat around in hallways, dining room, basement and talked about where we came from, what we thought about life and where we thought we were headed.  We ran out to get big pops, we laughed until we couldn't laugh anymore.  I get it sounds like we lived in a wonderland. NOT true. There were fights and depression.  People pushed each other to the limit and then some.  All in all it was a place that introduced me to so much and allowed me to be exactly who I was supposed to be. 

Since college I have grown closer with many of my sorority sisters and lost touch with some. We have watched each other get married, have children, start jobs, lose jobs. We have seen deaths, divorce and horrible health scares.  I am so glad for facebook. It has allowed me to see the amazing women that these squirrely girls have turned into. When ever anyone is discouraged or posts something on facebook that requires "being backed up" it is 9 times out of 10 the girls that we lived with all those years ago posting words of encouragement. We knew each other before life got complicated and I love how quickly we jump in to give a "verbal" hand.   

Many thanks to the current girls for inviting me to sell my art.   I am so glad that my attitude changed from being self conscience about "being old"  and looking around and appreciating why I loved living there so much and why it made me comfortable with me....a suburban hippie!

Random Ramblings

You know how you go through life and think to yourself, I will remember this moment forever? You won't. At least I don't.  I think I am going to remember the way baseball games smell, and what my kids said loudly in public bathrooms, what the sun feels like when its February, but it kind of fades away.  Today I am just writing down randomness, more for me than you. You can play along.

1. Vacation. We just got back from Florida. We spent quite a bit of time on the beach. The kids loved it. I did too. I think I could sit on the beach forever.  One moment I will remember is when Libby told Mark that she had to pee. Mark said "Just go in the ocean"  She walked in, I would say 6 inches. The water could not have even covered her feet.  She stood facing away from us and then pulled down her swimsuit and squatted.  All we could see was her cute little butt. I held my breath and watched as she peed with her bare butt out for the whole world to see.  She will hate this story. I am pretty sure I haven't laughed that hard in quite a while.

2. My friend Cheryl needs to write a book.  I met Cheryl when I was a freshman in college, she lived down the hall from me.  I can honestly say she is one of my favorite people I have ever met. I was fascinated by her and her family. They are the most talented bunch of people I have seen in one family.  Her brother is and artist, her sister is an artist. They all 5 sing, play the guitar and harmonize together.  It sounds like a movie!  Cheryl also writes. I am not sure what she does in her own time with it. I see her facebook posts. She is funny, she writes in a way that you laugh outloud and can't wait for her next post. She writes in a way that you can relate to her life and laugh and cry with her. SWEET HEAVENS CHERYL. Write a book already. If nothing else...please blog. You are perfect for it. I would offer to illustrate something, but I think your family could lend a hand on that !

3. Career day is Friday. I found out that I have to fill up 30 MINUTES of talking about what I do.  I should probably figure that out.

4. I cried watching walking dead this week. Damned zombies.

5.  I never remember how tense it is to drive home from Florida. The traffic. The poorly repacked clothes spilling out. Sand is now in the car. No one can find their "cute travel stuff" that was packed for the drive down.  We are driving AWAY from the beach.  We are now eating what feels like our 200th fastfood drive thru.  This time we thought we would add a stop at a Mexican restaurant into the mix.  This went about as well as you could imagine.  Enjoyable  meal, then we were all trapped in the car together. gross.  We made it home and are better people for it! :)

I am sure I will think of more later but this is what needs to get out right now! :)