FunnyMan & The Girl @ Homecoming

WARNING: This post contains lots of pictures. :)

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Ok -- as promised, here are pics of FunnyMan & The Girl dressed for the Homecoming dance... by the way, I just HAVE to say how CUTE I think The Girl is. She is upbeat and positive and has one of the most contagious smiles ever! And I also HAVE to say I think I have a pretty good-looking kid! And Yes, I WILL take credit for his AWESOME suit for the dance! That's how I do ;)

(the boys being all funny & "romantic")

Who Knew Laundry Could Be So Entertaining?

The Scene just before Labor Day Weekend:

Me - trying to wash a mountain of laundry, getting ready for road trip.

Teenage boy - calling me from study group wanting to stay and hang with friends.

Middle son - complaining and NOT wanting to go on road trip.

Daughter - keeping Granddad entertained :)

Granddad - laughing and marveling at the "chaos".

I told FunnyMan he had to pack before he went to hang out with friends. He rushed home to "hurry and pack" and he brought a GIRL with him! Well, not just ANY girl. He brought THE girl. The Girl he had asked to Homecoming. The Girl that he is sort of having a little fling with. The Girl that has been occupying much of his time away from home lately. Yeah, THAT girl.

I was a bit mortified at first. He did not WARN me he was bringing anyone home with him. Here I was, feeling a bit like a sweaty pig from the loads of laundry I had been washing and folding all day, just dying for a shower, the front room looking like we're moving or getting ready for a garage sale or something and he brings someone over? My hair was a complete mess and I am pretty sure I wasn't even wearing a BRA!

But how could I be upset? She is so danged cute with her giggles and smiles. So, she sat while I continued to fold and pack and FunnyMan proceeded to run around gathering his things for the trip. I give him orders to take his clean laundry piles down to his room and put them away and the next thing I know he is pulling the underpants from his BROTHER'S piles.

"Those aren't yours," I say.

"I like these ones better," he argues.

"Let me see those," I reply, snatching them to get a better look at the waistband. "These aren't yours," I say again. "Yours are medium. These are large. These are LittleDucklings."

Now, at this point The Girl starts to giggle and FunnyMan does a little nervous laugh. "But I like these ones," he retorts. "They're... roomier." To which The Girl laughs again.

"Exactly," I reply. "That's why they are your brother's. You're smaller than him."

Now -- when I said that, it's because his younger brother is built differently. They probably weigh about the same, although I think LittleDuckling might weigh a little more. He is just a little heftier, while FunnyMan is a scrawny thing. I said it meaning WAIST size.

Nevertheless, that isn't the connotation it held once I said it. And of course we all had a good laugh at that. I think he may have even turned a little red.

Serves him right, though. He's the one who brought The Girl over without Warning. :)

Who knew folding laundry could be so entertaining?

Come Back, FriendGirl... Come Back.

Ok - so for the long-haul followers, you remember The Friend Girl... the puppy-love crush FunnyMan had. Well, he was too young to date or have a "Girlfriend" so we called her "The FriendGirl". What can I say? I liked her. I mean I REALLY liked her.

They "fit". They are soooo similar. They both love writing. They both love writing poetry. They both can laugh at themselves and do crazy stuff and dress how they feel comfortable without worrying about fashion or what's cool or not cool. They both love music and the arts. They had good -- really good conversations. And they both had standards. They are both good kids and pretty much stay out of trouble. He'd go hang out with her family; she'd hang out with us. True, she was a bit more emotional -- but she's a teenage girl!!! She is supposed to be, right? Plus she is a smart girl with goals - and not like chasing butterfly goals... like REAL goals.

He liked being with her and being around her. He enjoyed her company, and his spirits were always up when she was around. He hated it if someone picked on her; and he'd come to her defense. It was cute.

But then... she went away... Well, not really. It's just that in the Fall, they started their sophomore year at different high schools. Then she turned 16 shortly thereafter and could start dating. Maybe that's it -- maybe she wanted to date for *real*, not this puppy-love business. Which, I understand. I mean, I think it is good for her. And they still talked and hung out, sort of.

Then I went off for my Menaissance weekend. One night while out of town, I get a text from FunnyMan. "Mom... hope you're having fun. Be safe." I was like, "Wha-?" Something wasn't right. This wasn't like him. I called.

ME: What are you doing?

FunnyMan: Sitting in the car.

ME: Why?

FM: I just want to be alone.

ME: Why? What happened.

FM: Nothing.

ME: Are you sure?

FM: yup.

ME: You're sitting in a car at 9:30pm on a Friday night just because you wanna be alone?

FM: Uh-huh.

ME: Anything you wanna talk about?

FM: Nope.

ME: Ok...well...um... you should go inside now.

FM: okay...

My heart broke just a smidge for him. I am not sure what happened... but I know it had something to do with the FriendGirl. And when I came back... there was no more Friend Girl. No more pigtails. No more big eyes with that glimmer of sparkle. No more wide grins and contagious laughter. And he wasn't upbeat as normal. I think he went through a little depression. No more being "funny" all the time. No more enthusiasm for school or his grades. And other girls have crushed on him, and made it no secret, and he has no interest whatsoever.

Could heartache over a first love impact a 15 year old so? I wondered. Then, I remembered my first love... which wasn't hard to recall since I had just spent time with him at my Menaissance! Yes... a first-love-turned-heartache *can* crush you. My first love still has a piece of my heart. And at age 35, I was still twitterpated when I saw him again sixteen years later.

So, as a Mother, I know I should **butt out**. But also as a Mother, I want to see my son be happy. I know that there might, possibly, probably be another "FriendGirl" one day. But for now... why can't she just COME BACK???

I know... I probably care way too much. I need to let my little birdie fly solo on this one, eh?

Journal Journey: He Broke My Heart

Fact: I've only been dumped twice in my entire life. The first time was 20 years ago; I was 15. The second time was 6 months ago... I was...er, um, yeah... 35. Grrr...Big-D.

Fact: Both times sucked. Both times I felt like my heart was going to explode right through my chest cavity and burst into a million pieces on the ground in front of me. Must by why they call it heartache.


Sunday July 23, 1989

This past weekend was Youth Conference. It was really great, except for one main thing. Eric. I suppose you could say that Eric let me down. We had a talk and he said that we should just be friends. But he hasn't seemed to act very friendly lately. Like today, when I said hello, he didn't respond. But no matter what happens, I could never hate him. A big part of me still loves him because we shared so many things that were like secrets to everyone else. We told each other things we never told anyone else. Right now I'm feeling like a big part of me is missing; a part of my heart. It's like I had a nice package, neatly wrapped up and then he came and untied it.

Fast forward to age 18. I went off to college at BYU-Hawaii. Eric was there, serving a mission for our church. There were a lot of "coincidences"; too many for this one post.

Age 19. I was engaged and having several doubts. I wasn't certain. And yet, for some reason I said "yes" anyway. I flew home for the summer to attend my sister's wedding just a few months before my own. I remember this incident like it was yesterday and think about it All.The.Time.

Monday July 12, 1993

There are many emotions I am feeling right now. It seems lately that everything is so confusing... just this past year Eric and I talked several times. Then, shortly after Christmas, shortly after meeting [the man formerly known as my husband] I talked to Eric on the phone. It just didn't seem like we had anything to say anymore. I thought perhaps that I was finally over him after four years of pining over him. And I'm not in love with him anymore; I mean I am getting married to someone else. But maybe you just never really forget your first love.

Anyway, yesterday I saw Eric at church. He came home from his mission. I was surprised to see him there as I turned to walk out of the chapel. As I walked towards him, I looked at him and he looked at me. I tried my best to smile at him, as if to say hi. He sort of nodded back and gave a half smile. As I reached the point where he was standing, I paused and we looked at each other for a brief moment. His eyes told me he had lots to say. My heart ached for him. I knew that he was going through something. There were so many things I wanted to say to him; wanted to ask him. I wanted to know what everything meant from the last 10 months. I wanted to know how he was. I wanted to talk to him; to hug him and to have him want to hug me back. I wanted to tell him everything would be okay. I said nothing. I walked on. I am engaged to someone else; in love with someone else. He seemed to understand.

Experiencing my most recent heartache this past year has brought me back to this one pivotal point in my life several times. I know that the life I am living now is a direct result of the choices I have made thus far and I am truly grateful for my children. I realize that my experience may be somewhat altered today if I would have made a different decision back then. But I do not want to live with any more "what-if's" when it comes to love.

I want to give my heart and my trust and I want to give it with everything I can. And then, after I have given everything, when or if it doesn't go my way, I can move on in peace.

I'm not trying to move mountains here... just looking for that thing called love.

Journal Journey: My First Love

Today is a continuation from yesterday's Journal Journey. Eric's mom finally instituted a 20-minute time limit to our phone calls. Guess she didn't know I was a talker, tee hee. At least they were local calls, right?

Anyway, to bring you up to speed, I was 15 1/2 and not allowed to date yet. Eric was 16, almost 17. He and I came up with a plan. Eric had an older brother; I had an older sister. We set them up and they became boyfriend and girlfriend like right after their first date. Woo-Hoo! Many times our scheming involved Eric and I "tagging along" with them places. (By the way, how was that NOT dating? hehehe)

My sister and her beau sometimes had a little teensy problem keeping curfew. I think this might be one reason my mom would let me tag along. Perhaps she thought my sister would have a better chance of getting home on time if I went too???

Sunday June 11, 1989

During church [Eric & I and our two siblings] made a plan to hang out at Eric's house after a youth fireside. Rachel G. wanted to stick around too. So we all played HORSE in the driveway. Of course Rachel is into basketball and won. I didn't really even pay attention to the game. Mostly, Eric and I just held hands and talked. Soon, Rachel had to go home, so my sister and her boyfriend said they would drive her. Eric and I stayed behind. We talked a lot about our goals and our future. I told him how our friends said we'll probably end up marrying each other. He said he wanted enough kids to form two basketball teams. We both want lots of kids.

After a while, [they] were still not back and Rachel only lives a few minutes away. Soon, Eric's dad came outside. He asked where they were. We told them that they went to take Rachel home. Eric's dad said it was ok for him to wait outside with me until my sister came back to get me. Well, I don't know how much time had passed, but it started to get a little windy and chilly and of course dark out. We didn't want to go in the house, cuz his parents and little brothers already went to bed. So, we decided to sit inside the Suburban in the garage.

Then we heard the door from the house to the garage open. It was Eric's dad again. We didn't want to be caught in the suburban, cuz we didn't want his dad to know we had been kissing. So, we ducked down. I was nervous, cuz his dad walked right next to the car and was standing right outside the window! I was sure he saw us. I tried not to make a sound. Finally he went back in. We started giggling. Thankfully my sister got back a few minutes later.

Friday June 23, 1989

Today Eric and I talked on the phone. We shared a lot of our thoughts and feelings with each other. It was really neat. I have never met a guy like Eric before. We told each other how we felt about one another. He told me he loved me. Other guys have told me that, but it was different. They just wanted to kiss or something. And I never told those guys I loved them back. With Eric it is different. I know he meant it because of the way he said it. He makes me feel that I am special to him and that I matter. I feel the same way about him. I feel that I am in love with him. I told him I loved him too. It is the first time I have said that to any guy.

Funny now to think that at 15 I could have been in love with someone. But Eric was my first love. I loved him as much as any 15 year old possibly could love another. A first love is so paramount; at least for me it was. No other guy could hold a candle to Eric in my eyes. Truthfully speaking, Eric has always had a piece of my heart. I don't think one ever truly gets over his or her first love, do you?

Once again, stay tuned tomorrow for the final "chapter" of my first love...

Journal Journeys: Then There Was You

Some of you may recall a few weeks ago when I posted this post: Journal Journeys: The Doorbell Ditch. As I had mentioned then, I've been rereading through my old journals. Here is more of THAT story... Just keep in mind that I was 15 1/2 and a bit of a dork... :)

Thursday May 12, 1989

...[writing about other boys]...Then there's Eric. His family moved into our ward at church a few months ago. I have had the biggest crush on him since the first time I saw him. I really like him and I think he might like me too, but I can't always tell. Anyway, Eric seems different than the other guys at church. I guess time will tell if he likes me too.


Sunday May 14, 1989

[This was the entry of The Doorbell Ditch in which Eric basically makes it known to me that he likes me.]


Wednesday May 17, 1989

Tonight at church I saw Eric. With other guys that I used to flirt with, I always knew it was just infatuation or for fun. I never really had strong feelings for any of them. But Eric is different. Not only is he totally good looking, but he is kind and courteous and totally funny, and well, just plain great! Little does he know I think the world of him. We get along so well, he seems perfect. He comes from a family of six kids and I come from a family of seven. I daydream about him all the time and fantasize that we'll like get married one day and have like ten kids or something. But, it's just a fantasy, and he would probably think I was weird if I ever told him that!


Saturday May 20, 1989

Yesterday when I was on the phone with Eric, he told me he would take me out as soon as I turned 16 and am allowed to date. That is like six months away. So, as you can imagine I've been in seventh heaven all weekend. We always have the best conversations. We call each other like every day. Our phone calls last for 2 or 3 hours and usually we have to hang up because his mom doesn't like him tying up the line. I wish they would get call-waiting, like we finally did. At least now my parents rarely tell me to get off the phone.


So... totally dorky, right? Yeah, I told you. Anyway, as you can tell, I was totally twitterpated over this guy; he was like the cheese to my macaroni. He was the moon to my darkness and the stars in my eyes... stay tuned for more tomorrow! (like slowly ripping off a band-aid...you're welcome.) :)

Journal Journeys: The Doorbell Ditch

Here is part of an entry straight from my teenage journal. And I will just preface this and say, I hope no one whom is mentioned will be embarrassed, humiliated or offended. I was nearly 15 1/2 when I wrote this, and I will warn you now that it is cheesy...

May 14, 1989

Yesterday, Elkhart's top seminary* team won the scripture bowl. Afterwards, we all went over to Sister Kiser's (the teacher) house to celebrate. She threw a party for all of us for the hard work we did. When I got there, Eric was already there. Most of the kids wanted to watch a movie, but it was sort of boring. So, Eric, Amy, Andrew, Ryan and I decided to play Pictionary. Then a lot of us went outside to play Hide and Go Seek. It sounds a bit childish, but it was actually a lot of fun in the dark. Eric and I ended up hiding together most of the time. After that we wanted to go on a walk. So, Naomi, Ryan, Andrew, Ben, Hilary, Haylie, Eric and I all went.

Eric said he wanted to do some "doorbell ditching" so he went up to a door and knocked and then we all ran away. We all ran down the street and then walked down to the river. On the way back, Ben said he wanted to doorbell ditch someone. We all said he better not. But he did anyway. We all started running when the guy actually came out of his house! After we got around the corner, we figured we were safe, so we stopped running and just started walking again. We were only a few houses away from Kisers when all of a sudden some headlights shone brightly on our backs. We turned around and it was that guy whose door Ben pounded on!

We all took off running towards the Kiser's backyard. I was coughing so hard from laughing and running. But while the others went inside for ice cream, Hilary, Ryan, Eric and I stayed outside and just talked. My coughing was getting worse the more I laughed, so Eric said we should go inside and he would get me some water. Then we went upstairs (ahem, the living room) to talk some more, just the two of us. He told me he wanted to take me to his Jr. Prom. I was excited. Of course this is still almost a year away, but I said yes. Ever since Eric moved here a few months ago, I've had the biggest crush on him. I can't wait till school gets out. Then it will be summer break, and more adventures!


What's an adventure YOU remember or wrote about in your journal that YOU did as a teenager?

*Seminary is an in-depth scripture study course that our church offers the youth. We used to compete at the end of the school year in scripture mastery bowls.

Memory Lane: The Love Note

A long, long time ago, in a land far away...

All right, it was December 1987 and it was in Northern Indiana. I turned 14. Turning 14 was sort of a milestone for me. I couldn't date, but I could start attending certain youth functions hosted by our church. The ones I most looked forward to were Super Saturdays. These were church-sponsored activities for youth 14+ and included youth from our "stake", which covered about a 50 mile radius. We usually had some sort of service project or seminar and often times there would be a dance that night.

I looked forward to these because my best friend HeidiK & I were BOYCRAZY! So, starting in January '88 I began attending these activities and dances. It was cool to meet other kids that had the same religious beliefs that I did, and somehow they seemed more cool than the boys I went to school with. I think boys who don't go to your school always seem cooler.

Anyway, at my first dance, I danced a lot of the dances with JasonF, because we were sort of crushing on each other at the time. However, I think he started noticing all of the different girls there. And I was definitely noticing all of the guys there. So, as if he was reading my mind, JasonF says that since we're not really BF & GF, there's no reason we shouldn't be allowed to dance with other people. I was like, right...no reason. So, that was that. We started dancing with other people. There was this one guy. I thought he was soooo cute. Plus he had on SUSPENDERS. And, like, Oh m'Gosh! Suspenders were like so totally cool back in 1988.

I wanted to this guy to dance with me; but I was too afraid to ask. So, I put in motion some of my flirting techniques (from "Flirting Techniques 101" written by yours truly) and within minutes, he was standing in front of me asking for the next dance. Just so happened his parents were the DJ's. How cool is that? Any song I wanted, he would just tell his parents, and it happened. So totally cool...totally. Oh - and his name was Mickey. Talk about even more Totally Rad. Especially cuz of that song... "Oh Mickey you're so fine, you're so fine, you blow my mind, hey Mickey! [clap! clap-clap!] Hey Mickey! [clap! clap-clap!]..." Well, you know the song.

Anyway, I had to leave a little early since I rode with friends and their parents were their to pick us up. So, we did what any normal teenager did back then, since we didn't have email, cell phones, texting, IMing, etc. We exchanged ADDRESSES!!!

That set in motion The Long Distance Love Notes. Looking back, they were more like "Like" notes. We wrote each other from January all the way till August of that year. We also danced and hung out at every Super Saturday, and called each other at least once a week. Anyway, I sort of forgot about the love notes until the other night, when I was looking for something else in an old box, and ran across the love notes instead. I am surprised I still have them. I am not your average pack-rat. I have 1 box, count it - 1, containing things from my childhood. And that box is smaller than the average size copy-paper box.

Anyway, I started reading the notes, and thought they were cute. So, at the risk of Mickey hunting me down... I am going to post the first Love Note on the blog. [click on note to enlarge]

Yeah...I like how he ends it with "love you" when we had barely just met.

Totally Cool...Like, Totally.

Keenan & the "Friend-Girl"

So, my oldest will be 14 in about 2 weeks. Ever since he started Jr High 2 years ago, the phone started ringing off the hook. Not my friends, not my family, not even solicitors. Who was on the other end? None other than, you guessed it - girls! And they were calling for my son! He seemed so young - not ready for all of this. I couldn't believe it was finally happening. Then, I thought back to my own early teen years and realized he was just the right age for all of this to begin.

The phone used to ring for me at my house, and it was usually boys. In fact, it rang so much, that my Dad started to answer "Hello! Emma's House!" Pretty clever, especially since we didn't have Caller I.D. back in "those days".

Anyway, this year he has had one girl in particular call. She invites him to stuff all the time. And trying not to overreact, I usually let him go. He even went to her family's Easter egg hunt party. The girl's mother told me the whole family just loves him because he is not shy around them and joins in the fun, as if he is one of their own.

The more he started hanging out with this girl, I started to wonder about the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing. I really want him to just be friends with girls at this point, and not have girlfriends. On the other hand, I don't want to be so "old-fashioned" about it as my parents were. I tried talking to him about it. (Yeah, that didn't make him uncomfortable in the least bit!) He finally assured me that they are "just friends" who happen to talk on the phone alot, IM alot, play XBox Live together, dance together at dances and hang out at each other's houses. Does that sound like "just friends" to you? I then tried to talk to him about what age it's appropriate to start holding hands and kissing, etc. His reply? "Gee Mom. That's pretty funny coming from you, considering some of the stories I've heard about you from your sisters and friends."

He got me on that one. As a teen-ager, I was a make-out queen. I just didn't think he knew about it. I was hoping to live in denial about that until he was at least an adult; just like I didn't find out about my mom being a kissing-queen until I was an adult (yuck!). At any rate, I told him to learn from my "mistakes" and not make as many of his own. He then told me not to worry - that this girl is not his "Girlfriend". I asked him how he does refer to her. He simply stated, "My Friend-Girl".

Now the "Friend-Girl" texts me and chats with me! Can you believe it? I like her and she's cute, and I trust the both of them. Of course, Keenan cannot possibly see why anyone his age would want to text his mom! Even more so, he cannot believe that someone "my age" texts as often as I do or that I even know how to text. I told him that perhaps I am a bit "cooler" than he gives me credit for.

"If that's what you have to tell yourself," he replied.

So that's it. A new stage in my life. I must say this whole teenage boy/girl thing has me a little anxious. I guess it could be worse. She could have a blue Mohawk, sporting army fatigues a halter-top and tattoos. This girl still wears Laura Ingalls Wilder braids half the time - whew! Find joy in the little things, right?