Reflections 33: Names, Part 2

This is part two of the baby naming question, since I have two kids, with two names--see? =)

Part 2, Gabriel: We found out we were expecting Gabriel when Emerald was about 10 months old. This time I wasn't sick in the first trimester--I wasn't even particularly tired. So this time, with a fairly clear head, I told Michael...I don't want to worry about the name at all. The last time had burned me so bad, I didn't want to think about it at all. I was so certain of this that I didn't even want to know the gender of the baby so that I wouldn't worry and fret and name the baby before Michael could.

So we agreed--only Mike got to know the gender, only Mike got to pick the name.

No one liked our arrangement, even the doctor, but it was what WE were happy with, so that's all that mattered.

The way it would happen was that I would suggest baby names to Michael, and he would decide the ones that he liked as well and he would pick the name alone.

At first, we actually discussed what names Michael was thinking. For the first leg of the pregnancy, we liked Alexander Lynn (Lex) for a boy, and Eve Lynn Clementine (Evie) for a girl. I didn't like Evelyn, and Eve Lynn sounded too short to me, but Eve Lynn Clementine had nice cadence. We were both at peace-there was no arguing, no endless discussions and lists of baby names, no worrying.

I still enjoyed onomastics as a hobby, so I bought as fun reading "Baby Name Wizard" by Laura Wattenberg. At the time, I think we had started watching the series of "Angel" again, which got me to thinking...it's cool that Michael has an archangel name, wouldn't it be cool if we gave a future son another angelic name? I made a little list--Angel, Raphael, Gabriel, Uriel...Angel was written off because it seemed effeminate, Raphael was a ninja turtle, I didn't like the nickname Gabe, and Uriel made me think urinal. I put it from my mind.

Rereading the Name Wizard again, I come across Gabriel again. Gabe seems less horrible, and Gabriel is an adorable name.....but what really got my attention was the thought of the adorable nickname--Gaby Baby! I bring it up to Mike for fun, and he lights up...he likes it!

We have another few peaceful, quiet months. Around this time, we decide that he is going to keep "the" name to himself, a secret even to me.

Around this time, I am getting horribly lonely. For some reason, pregnancy makes people quite lonely. So I start texting--most people ignore me, or give me short responses when they can, but Mike's friend Dylan is quite nice in listening to a lonely preggo rambling. We start talking a lot.

So, I bring up the name Dylan to honor his very best friend from high school. Mike likes it as well.

The end of the pregnancy approaches--we are all set and ready to have the kid, since I am horribly uncomfortable. One amniocentesis later, and we realize baby is going to have to bake for another week and a half--his lungs are very underdeveloped. =( I am heartbroken. To cheer me up, Michael asks if I want to hear what name he has chosen. I figure since I made it this far, I can go the extra time...but I do want to hear his final list.

For boys, he was thinking Alexander, Gabriel, or Dylan.

For girls, we are thinking Aeris, River, or Eve.

Lovely names, I was right to trust Mike to do it alone.

The big day comes, and for unforeseen reasons, I need to be sedated for the birth...in a drowsy, hazy confusion, Michael introduces me to a squalling little angel...Gaby =)

It was perfect, I never had a moment's stress or worry over it, and no other name would do for our little man. All in all, it was great =)

~Andie~

Reflections 32: Names, Emerald

How did you choose my name, and why?

Part 1, Emerald: They say that it is harder now to pick baby names than ever before, since baby names mean more than ever before. Well, I can tell you that is true, because people have zero problem telling you exactly what they think about the name you choose.

Throughout my first pregnancy, Michael worried about the fiscal aspect of becoming parents, and was...less than helpful when it came to the naming portion. More often than not, he just didn't want to talk about it all. I remember once very vividly--he was at work and I sent him a text asking what I should name the baby. He said Lee, Levi, Arizona...he was naming pants brands that he was folding. Jerk.

Anyways, so I was pretty much on my own, with one small difference. I couldn't just pick the name I liked because (though he was unwilling to help with the process) Michael could still say--and did, often enough--that he wasn't sure about the name I was thinking.

As you can tell, I found this whole arrangement quite frustrating.

Before I actually knew I was pregnant, I had a dream of a baby girl with dark curly hair sleeping on my chest. It was a very powerful dream, where I could even feel the weight of the dream baby on my chest. It was when I realized that I was probably pregnant...but the little dark haired angel in my dream was named Irish Lynn. So I wanted to do that, but my mother pointed out that everyone would hear it Iris and call her Iris, and Mike wasn't crazy about it.

Soooo I started thinking Tula--Tula is Michael's great-grandmother's name, Tula Lynn is really cute...it's an uncommon name..seemed good. Mike wasn't sold on it, everyone kept asking me "like My Big Fat Greek Wedding?", and I got frustrated and abandoned that name too.

Around this time, people realized that I was unsure and I got floods of suggestions. I appreciated everyone else's input, but their styles were so different from mine that nothing felt right. Hannah was too soft; Aubrey was our rival high school while I was in school; Ashley was my brother's ex-girlfriend....

Mike FINALLY suggests a name--he read a book when he was younger about a girl named Sophia, based on some variation of philosophy. I get excited, pair it with a middle name, and tentatively try it on: Sophia Gwen. It feels good, it looks good. It's pretty, I haven't ever met a Sophia....unfortunately, when the name is not right, when it doesn't feel right, you know. My mother-in-law called my bump Sophie and it just FELT wrong. It didn't feel like my baby.

I am getting bigger and bigger and she is nameless. I am getting desperate and panicked.

So, I go for a walk and try and clear my head, and I think of a name. Inside me, the baby squirms as if she agrees--I could cry in relief. A name that feels right =)

For the next month, I call her my Katie Lynn. I don't tell Mike in case he shoots me down and breaks my heart, but surely he noticed that I quit talking baby names. I got a few back up names, and I finally get the guts to pose it to Mike...he loves Katie Lynn too! Now all we have to do is find a proper formal name for Katie, and we're set!

You see, baby naming experts agree (and I know all their advice by heart at this point) that a baby shouldn't be just given a nickname. Even if you use the nickname all the time, they usually like having options for what they are called, and nicknames make them sound childish when they sometimes want to sound more mature.

Katherine is out--I just simply don't like it. Mike has a cousin named Kaitlyn, and we agreed that we wouldn't use any first cousins' names. Katana is too weird, Katrina had too much of a negative connotation, Kateri and Katia are too exotic sounding. Kate Lynn sounds too abrupt to me.

We have the right name, but we can't flesh it out. We argue our way to a stale mate and realize...we can't go any further than this. We can't have our Katie because we can't find a formal and I won't use a nickname as a full name.

Back at square one in the hospital, we start asking everyone we pass for suggestions. The nurse asks what we think about Emma Leigh. I hate it. It's trashy...but Emma would make a cute nickname. Em...Emily....Emeline...Emerald?

I ask Mike what he thinks of Emerald, and he loves it. He is all for the nickname Emma. My heart breaks at leaving the name Katie behind, but Emerald is beautiful and she just looks like an Emerald when I meet her =) Katie would have fit too, but she is our Emerald.

The nickname got abandoned along the way, but now we have our gorgeous, perfect jewel of a daughter with a name all her own. I think we did pretty good. The whole naming affair stressed me out beyond all reason, which is NOT how it is supposed to be, but now I know better....I should take less of the responsibility and let Michael do more of the heavy pulling, and I should just enjoy the ride =)

~Andie~

Reflections 31: Volunteering

If you could be a patron of a charity or organization, which would you choose? Why?

There are two volunteer opportunities I am passionate about.

The first is TLC--Teens Living with Cancer.

With the Spanish Club in high school, I helped organize a walk-a-thon for TLC, and I got to learn a lot about oncology for adolescents. There is such a bleak outcome for many of those diagnosed because of our current treatments being ill-suited for the changing bodies of teenagers at worst, and a stall at best. It is a very interesting and emotional field, and I would do anything in my power to help them.

The second is blood donation, which is one of the topics that gets me very fired up. I'll try and be calm, but no promises, lol.

When Dad was sick, he got many blood transfusions....so many in fact that the amount is now described in gallons of blood transfused, not pints. Throughout his two year stay at the hospital, I never once worried they would run out of blood to give him. Most people that have loved ones in the hospital or are in the hospital themselves that need transfusions usually don't let the thought cross their mind, and would in fact be outraged if the hospital was poorly stocked for emergencies.

But there is a finite amount of stored blood, and with people refusing to donate for the most absurd, shitty of reasons, there is always a great need for it that may not always be able to be supplied.

There are tons of perfectly legitimate, valid reasons for not donating blood. I myself have been rejected several times I have tried to donate (usually because of low iron). Actual phobia of needles, being under or overweight, disease, recent tattoos or piercings....there are many acceptable reasons for not being able to donate.

But what really ticks me off is shitty, half-assed excuses that are selfish.

One of the biggest I have heard: "I don't like needles".

Fuck you--who LIKES needles?

"I'm scared of needles! -laugh-"

No one likes pain. But here's the test--you are in the hospital and have to have an IV to be cured, to have better chances; you have to have an epidural for birth, a vaccination for the flu, or be put under for surgery; or you yourself have to have a transfusion....you don't cry to the nurse that you can't do it because you are scared of needles, do you? No, you do what you can to preserve yourself. Then no, you're not scared of needles, you don't have a good excuse. You're just selfish enough that you won't go through the littlest bit of pain to save someone else's life.

"I don't have the time".

UGH! There are blood drives all over your city every day of the week, and you can't carve out an hour to help save lives? Tool.

In the end, I have done tons of volunteer work--Habitat for Humanity, children's hospital, Invisible Children....but the only one that has really gotten me riled up is blood donation. If you are reading this, donate blood. Save a life. I promise--your excuse is probably crappy.

~a Cranky Andie~

Reflections 30: Collections

Did you have collections growing up? What initially sparked your interest in it.

I had lots of collections growing up--for some reason, it is the drive of most kids to hoard everything. Usually crap stuff, but never-the-less.

When I was pretty small, I found a small pink stone in my front yard. It had probably fallen off someone's jewelry or backpack or something, but I was amazed--it was so smooth and beautiful. After that, I started collecting rocks. I found lots of neat ones--usually ones that had things that had been petrified, like snail shells and things. Of course, I thought they were dinosaur fossils and that if I kept digging, we would find an entire dinosaur's remains beneath our house.

As a weird aside, since I don't know if another chance will come up to talk about it (and I don't want to forget): there was, in any yard I visited, moss growing on the ground somewhere. At the church, at home, at my grandparent's house...there was always that little soft patch of downy moss if you looked hard enough, usually in the dark near the side of the house. I can't remember exactly where the story started--either Amber or I made the story up, as we were forever trying to entertain one another--but we became convinced that the moss was what had happened to the dinosaurs....that their world and vegetation had been shrunk down to so tiny, we could barely even see them, to make way for our world. So I would carefully remove the moss all the way down to the roots and carry it around, wondering what the dinosaurs were doing on their tiny little mobile world.

Back to my collections though!

At some point, my Great Grandmother bought me a black stuffed bull. I fell in love with the thing, even though I eventually lost it (like I lose everything), but Grandma noticed and remembered, and started buying me porcelain cow creamers.

I can't believe I actually found a picture of one I had...

Any ways, I LOVED these creamers--they were beautifully painted and so charming...Of course, each and every one of them had a name.

When we were packing up to move all our things, I carefully wrapped each one in a shirt of mine, then in newspaper and packed the rest of the box with newspaper. Unfortunately, that did not save the poor cows from being totally obliterated when my brother tripped and fell on the box :(

My heart was so broken that I didn't start the collection again until my mother bought me a cow-dolier this past summer. He is fantastic and his name is Luca =)

Other than that, I did a brief stamp thing--the post office had a club for kid stamp collectors, and if you signed up you got a nifty catalog of different types of stamps in the mail, which was chock full of cool cartoon characters and things to read about collecting stamps, and puzzle games. It was awesome.

Finally, most recently I have started collecting books. I have always loved books, but never really sought them out--I let them come to me. My favorite authors now are the firsts to be collected, which means that I am working on my Jude Deveraux collection.

I'm pretty sure that just about covers it for collections, but I will record more if I think of anything!

~Andie!~

Day 1: Your Best Friend

All ready, this is making it hard for me--technically, Michael is my very best friend, but he is mentioned later in the post. My siblings would also be considered, but they don't count because they are forced proximity emotional closeness, lol. But when you point blank ask me who my best friend is, I will almost always say: Erika.

Dear Erika:

You have been my friend since I was a brat 3rd grader and you were a new student. We met in Ms. Major's class...well, technically, the first time I met you, I public school roughed you up--I thought you were cutting in front of me in the lunch line, so I slugged you in the stomach. In retrospect, probably an overreaction, and surprising that I never got in trouble for that exchange....at any rate.

Our early friendship was fraught with childish, immature fights--you crying under the slide, me telling you that I would rather play with Barbara that day...But we kept perservering. Maybe in our young and silly minds, we still found something in each other that was special. Or maybe we were just so awkward and scared of losing a friend. Either way, it's 15 years later and we are still friends, that's got to count for something =)

I haven't always been a good friend...in fact, sometimes I have been down right shitty. But you have always stuck it out for me. Now you are halfway across the globe and I cry nearly every day in regret--regret for not spending more time with you when I had the chance. I miss you horribly...your dorky sense of humor, your endless suggestions for good books, your quiet patience and kind understanding. You were always the best of us, and we always knew it. And now you're off saving the world, and we are caught in the mucky muck thinking...I miss my 'Rika.

~Andie~

30 Days

So, a friend of mine is doing this on facebook, and it caught my eye. I am still enjoying doing my reflections posts, but I want to break up the monotony just a little. Basically, it is 30 Days of writing "letters". They will probably not get sent, and the world at large may not always know who you are talking about, but it sounded like fun, and I wanted to do it! So bear with me, please =)

Here is the line up--I may or may not finish them all in the next 30 days.

Day 1 - Your Best Friend

Day 2 - Your Crush

Day 3 - Your Parents

Day 4 - Your Siblings

Day 5 - Your Dreams

Day 6 - A Stranger

Day 7 - Your Ex-Boyfriend/Love/Crush

Day 8 - Your Favorite Internet Friend

Day 9 - Someone you wish you could meet

Day 10 - Someone you don't talk to as much as you'd like to

Day 11 - A deceased person you wish you could talk to

Day 12 - The person you hate most/caused you alot of pain

Day 13 - Someone you wish could forgive you

Day 14 - Someone you have drifted away from

Day 15 - The person you miss the most

Day 16 - Someone who's not in your state/country

Day 17 - Someone from your childhood

Day 18 - The person that you wish you could be

Day 19 - someone that pesters your mind- good or bad

Day 20 - That one that broke your heart the hardest

Day 21 - Someone you judged by their first impression

Day 22 - Someone you want to give a second chance to

Day 23 - The last person you kissed

Day 24 - The person that gave you your favorite memory

Day 25 - The person you know that is going through the worst of times

Day 26 - The last person you made a pinky promise to

Day 27 - The friendliest person you knew for only one day

Day 28 - Someone that changed your life

Day 29 - The person you want to tell everything to, but too afraid to

Day 30 - Your reflection in the mirrorDay 1 - Your Best Friend

Day 2 - Your Crush

Day 3 - Your Parents

Day 4 - Your Siblings

Day 5 - Your Dreams

Day 6 - A Stranger

Day 7 - Your Ex-Boyfriend/Love/Crush

Day 8 - Your Favorite Internet Friend

Day 9 - Someone you wish you could meet

Day 10 - Someone you don't talk to as much as you'd like to

Day 11 - A deceased person you wish you could talk to

Day 12 - The person you hate most/caused you alot of pain

Day 13 - Someone you wish could forgive you

Day 14 - Someone you have drifted away from

Day 15 - The person you miss the most

Day 16 - Someone who's not in your state/country

Day 17 - Someone from your childhood

Day 18 - The person that you wish you could be

Day 19 - someone that pesters your mind- good or bad

Day 20 - That one that broke your heart the hardest

Day 21 - Someone you judged by their first impression

Day 22 - Someone you want to give a second chance to

Day 23 - The last person you kissed

Day 24 - The person that gave you your favorite memory

Day 25 - The person you know that is going through the worst of times

Day 26 - The last person you made a pinky promise to

Day 27 - The friendliest person you knew for only one day

Day 28 - Someone that changed your life

Day 29 - The person you want to tell everything to, but too afraid to

Day 30 - Your reflection in the mirror

Reflections 29: The Dank

Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Tell me about your first apartment or home with Daddy.

Michael and I moved into a small two-bedroom quad in May 2007. It was behind a Lone Wolf Mexican Restaurant--a gross little taco drive through--and next to a cemetery. If you walked out onto our front porch, you looked directly into the back alley, and at the wooden fence that separated our home from the cemetery beyond. On the upside, it was always full of beautiful flowers, which was nice.

There was no garage, but there was a private little awning thing to park the jeep under. And we had a nice little outdoor closet out there for things that didn't fit in the house--read, the stuff that Michael brought that was super crap.

Right when you walked inside, to your immediate left was the living room and in front of you was the hallway. If you walked down the hallway, there were two bedrooms--the first was Emerald's nursery (or was going to be--for a while, it was just a storage space) on the left, and then at the end of the hall on the left was our room.

Emerald's nursery had a dark wooden crib and a wooden changing table with two shelves, a rocking chair and matching foot stool in dark blue, and a guest bed that had hand-me-down Barbie sheets on it (it was the bed that I slept in while I was nursing). The theme was jungle animals, and done in colors of cream, sage, and gold. There was only one window, and it looked out on the porch and toward the cemetery.

The master bedroom was just down the hall and had a window that looked out over the small backyard. We didn't go out there terribly often--it was pretty small, more of a dog run than anything else. In our room was a tiny closet and the bed and one dresser we shared.

Walking out of my bedroom, immediately on the left was the bathroom--it was a long bathroom, with lots of counter space before the sink, then the toilet, and the bathtub at the back end. Lots of room in there, which is where we kept the litter box at the opposite end of the room from the tub. The bathtub took FOREVER to fill up since the water pressure was kind of piddly, but when I was pregnant, I would lay in the bathtub for hours and hours and hours because it was how my body was the happiest.

Straight out of my bedroom door (or, leaving the bathroom, to the left of you), was the kitchen. Right when you walked in, the microwave was on the left and the fridge was on the right. Going microwave side, we then had the stove and a little more counter space. Then there was a door that led to a big pantry--the pantry held our washer and dryer, which was nice to have in the apartment, and on the opposite wall we had shelf space for all the food we never had, lol.

Next to the fridge was more counter, and on the opposite wall from where we came in was the dishwasher and sink and counter tops. The counter next to the fridge acted as a island to separate the kitchen and the dining room, if it could be called that. It was a small tiled area that had our kitchen table on one side and a computer table set up on the other.

Adjoining the dining room was the living room, the final room of the house. It had high ceilings and windows that looked out over the porch and the car port.

For the first several months that we lived there, Michael worked at JCPenney and we had ZERO furniture. We had an old beat up blue barcalounger in the living room, plus the "entertainment center" which was a AV utility cart with a little HDTV I had bought Michael as a gift on the top, then the XBOX 360 on the next level, and assorted crap on the bottom. We also had a DVD stand that was always dropping the movies to the floor in one corner. In the bedroom, we had one twin sized mattress and one wooden futon frame that was like sleeping on a wooden picket fence. But unfortunately, with me pregnant, we couldn't both sleep on the twin mattress.

We used to try and trick each other to getting out of the recliner so that we could steal it, lol.

It was a happy home--once we got furniture and all the baby stuff, we could officially no longer fit. We started looking for a bigger place to live when I found out I was expecting Gabriel, but the real motivation was when the bank foreclosed on our landlord and we were evicted. It was pretty rough, but it got us into our lovely three bedroom home that we live in now that we have loved so much, so it worked out for the best =)

~Andie~

Reflections 28: Attraction

Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence. ~Eric Fromm

How old were you when you met Dad and what attracted you to him?

I was 18 years old when I met Michael, who would become my husband and the father of Emerald and Gabriel. He was 20 at the time and had been attending LCU for 2 years before I got there.

There was this cool place to go study and drink coffee and gossip right off of campus. It's where my new friends took me to hang out, and one day they invited their mutual friend, Mike.

I remember he wore this black button-up shirt with red accents on it...it looked really great with his fair skin and dark hair and goatee. He looked so cool and so sweet!! But he didn't seem interested in me at all. He looked like a bad boy, and I was a goofy freshman with braces and hooded sweatshirts 4 sizes too big for me. It took a while, but eventually he seemed to notice me :)

~Andie~

Reflections 27: Instruments

A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. ~Leopold Stokowski

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. ~Berthold Auerbach

What musical instrument did you play? TEll me your memories of lessons, practice, and your music teacher. What other musical instruments did you want to learn to play?

I played trombone, bass trombone, and baritone for my middle school and high school band.

Originally, I wanted to learn how to play trumpet--Mom wanted a jazz band, and she all ready had Jarrod on saxophone and Amber on the flute. Royce tried trombone, but could only play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" poorly. But the band director at the time was Ms. Woods and she all ready had 22 trumpets in a band of only 40 or so, so she tried to get me to switch to trombone or baritone. I picked trombone because that's what my Uncle Robbie used to play and because my friend Christi was an awesome trombone girl too.

Band was some of the happiest times of my life--all the bad members were close knit, all friends. We won State Marching competition our first year marching and always got straight ones at competition for concert band (wind ensemble? There was only the one band most of my time there).

Private lessons and group lessons for trombones were pretty sporadic--we were all required to take them, but the school paid for them. None of them stayed for long though, since most were UNT students. Practice, Dad always made me go out to the garage. Dad was surprising because he actually played tenor sax really well when he was in high school. Go figure.

The best part of band were the trips though--we went to Disney World and Disney Land...I got to lead the Disney Land parade with the other trombones one year! The years we weren't going to Disney, we went to Corpus Christi for their musical festival. It was so wonderful in condos on the beaches....everyone burned horribly except me and Erika, since Erika always made sure I put on SPF 1,000,000,000 before going out into the sun and reapply at least every hour.

At Christmas, we always went and played a Christmas concert and small ensembles at Six Flags. It was so much fun--we got into the park for free, played for no more than 45 minutes, then spent the rest of the day riding rides. We even played in Bass Hall in DFW, which is this fantastic sound stage. We got into trouble for being too noisy, and so we told the annoyed patron that we were from the rival school, lol.

The marching uniforms and concert dresses and tuxes were brand new when we wore them, so we were very proud. The plumes weren't messed up yet, and they looked so sharp, and the pants were so waterproof you could dump your soda on them and it would just bead off. We weren't allowed to go to the concession stands during football games, but Ms Mikel--our band director--always had tons of Little Debbie snack cakes and sodas for us.

Concert band, we had to wear these hideous, shapeless black dresses with big poofy sleeves and bust covered in black sequins. The judges just ate that up, but they scratched our arms every time we slid our slides.

Other instruments I wanted to learn?? Guitar, bass guitar, piano, violin....there is no instrument it would be a mistake to learn. Though 4th grade recorder was a bit of a waste of my time :P

~Andie~

Reflections 26: Siblings

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet. ~Vietnamese Proverb

I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see. I sought my God, but my God eluded me. I sought my brother and I found all three. ~Author Unknown

Share one special memory about each of your brothers and sisters.

This is going to be hard to separate out a story for each of my siblings. You see, all four of us were so very, very close--bestie best friends--that most of our stories involve the whole quartet.

We all played games together that was a lot of fun--we weren't exactly rich, but it never once occurred to us growing up because we had so very much fun. We made up our own games.

My mother had these hideous yellow, or brown, or green blankets. Who knows where she got them--they looked like packing blankets, but they were very soft from age. We would roll ourselves up in them and pretend we were enchiladas (I'm a CHEESE enchilada! I'm a BEEF enchilada! We thought about food A LOT). Or if it was just me and Amber, we would pretend we were caterpillars that were cocooning up to turn into butterflies.

We also liked playing "The Potty Police". Amber, Jarrod, and I would be the partiers, but apparently there were police to put an end to such nonsense. We would crawl around on our knees and forearms singing "The party police; the party police--we're running from the party police". Royce would burst in with a superhero stance and say "I'm the party police!" but because of his speech impediment, it came out sounding like "I'm the potty police!!" So a game was born, lol.

Other games we played--Roll Log, which was a death match on the trampoline; Don't Break the Egg, a game that threatened to break our necks on the trampoline; Statues, where three of us pretended to be statues and the last one would pick us up and carry us away; Furniture, which is too complicated to explain. But one of us was furniture...anyway.

BUT! That wasn't the question--they wanted a story for each of us. So here we go. Michael's probably sick unto death of these questions, but here they are anyway:

Amber: Amber and I were only 1 year apart in age (she is a year older than I am), and we shared a room, so we were always really close. So close in fact that she wouldn't think twice about taking a huge dump while I was in the bath. What a ho.

I remember when we were really small, we woke up and excitedly told each other that we had the same dream! Bill Clinton, president of the United States, came to us in our tree house in a limo and gave us an imaginary friend! Amber's was named Faith and mine was named Hope, and then there was Love somewhere out there. They were small and doll like and they kicked us when were being mean.

At night, Amber and I would pretend we had an expansive dream movie collection, and we would choose a cassette to insert into our foreheads, like Lion King, and that's what we would dream that night.

During the winter, we worried the kittens (since there were ALWAYS kittens at our house while I had Sassi) would freeze in the snow...even though they lived indoors...and we rarely if ever had snow or ice. So we would go find socks and we couldn't remember having seen the match to particular socks in such a long time, they must have been lost (or were just our fodder for the year before or after, lol) so we would cut them up and fashion them into a kitten winter wardrobe of sweaters and kitten mittens. =)

Jarrod: Jarrod was the world's best liar. Ever. Seriously, that kid could convince anyone of anything. I remember when we were still living in the trailer, Jarrod told me and Amber that Mom might lose her job and we would have to eat dog food to save money, so we had to get used to it now. We were only 3 and 4 or so, so we took a handful of dried dog food...and hated it. It was so awful! That night, Mom put Frito bean dip on our plates at dinner...and Amber and I started sobbing that we didn't want to eat dog food!!

Amber and I asked him what the sound outside was--it was in fact hail on the roof, but Jarrod told us it was Leprechaun's with x-ray vision that were going to kill us with their laser vision if we didn't hide.

Finally of Jarrod's lies was after he went through sex-ed, Jarrod became convinced and subsequently convinced us that Mom had an STD because she was tired all the time.

But not everything was lies--he used to get on his bike and ride down to the only store in town to get us food during the summer. Stuff we didn't normally get, like sodas and spaghettios and baby food fruit (which we were bonkers about for some reason) and candy bars.

Royce: Royce was the oldest and a bit of a bully, but he had a good heart none the less. I remember one day when we were playing Truth or Dare with some neighborhood kids, Royce got dared to put on lipstick--he ran away, I gave chase, and he threw open the freezer door. I was out cold for like 5 minutes, and woke up hearing them how they should bury me in the yard and tell Mom and Dad I ran away. My siblings are the height of sensitivity.

Dad had built us a tree house high up in the trees--it was awesome, but more of a deck than anything else, and he never finished the railings on all sides. One day, Royce and Jarrod were play fighting with wooden swords up there when Royce backed right over the edge despite Jarrod's warnings. He landed on a pile of bricks. He just lay there staring up at us confused, before saying "Jarrod, I am going to kill you". It was pretty hilarious.

When Dad was sick, we took turns cooking--one morning was his job to make biscuits. Royce left them in the oven for 8 hours while we were at school, turning them into briquettes. He dumped bbq sauce on them and tried to eat them anyway!!

That is all I can do for now--it's just about time for dinner. More later. But I wouldn't trade my siblings for anything in the world =)

~Andie~

Michael's Reflections 11-20

Describe a memorable Valentine you received.

Oh dear. Well, there are two in particular sticks out, and my wife will have to forgive me because the two I am thinking of did not come from her.

My mother did not get along with my high school girlfriend. Understandably. She was...of ill-repute among the school staff, and I was the golden child. Of course I was a rebellious child, but not a particularly emphatic one. So all my rebellious nature was channeled into trying to make an unhealthy relationship work. Anyways, two of the times of the year that my girlfriend and my mother were sure to collaborate on was Valentine's day, where these two would join forces for the cause of creating the maximum amount of embarrassment and inconvenience on little ol' me.

One year I went outside to find my entire car wrapped bumper to bumper in red, pink, and white crepe paper. Streamers and little plastic hearts everywhere. My car smelled like those chalky little chips of evil covered in phrases like "Luv U" and "B Mine". The next year my bedroom received the same treatment, meaning my mother actually let that girl into the house and allowed her to desecrate my solitary space. I was vacuuming up those little hearts for months.

How far did you have to travel to attend elementary, junior high, and high school, and how did you get there?

In elementary school I rode the bus. There were two young black kids who liked to beat me up, going to and coming from. I didn't like buses. Eventually I transferred to Lubbock Christian, which was within walking distance. My middle school in Littleton was a short walk or bike ride away. My first high school was a mere 15-20 minute bike ride away, and when I transferred to Arapahoe I'd either hitch a ride with Mom or eventually drive myself. I always parked in the staff parking lot, because OF COURSE I DID.

What scent or sound immediately takes you back to childhood? Describe the feeling it evokes.

Harry Connick Jr. (Must have been) Ol' Santa Claus Gets me every time. I sing, I dance. Its embarrassing

What was your favorite meal when you were a child? What made it your favorite?

I loved chicken and rice, with a bacon lined pan. Nothing better than those soft patches of rice doused in cream of mushroom. My other favorite was pork chops. Not because I like pork chops (I'm indifferent.) But because pork chops meant cheese potatoes. Hash browns with cream of mushroom (again) and soaked in cheese. Wonderful.

What chores did you have to do when you were growing up? Did you get an allowance? How much was it?

I usually vacuumed and dusted, and did laundry when possible. I took out the trash and mowed the lawn. I got an allowance for a while, but after a while, it just got to a point where if I really needed cash for something, I could just ask for it. I didn't ask often, so my parents were almost always willing to buy me something if I really wanted it.

Tell me about your first job.

My first real job with AMC Theaters in Highlands Ranch. I was an Usher and Snack Bar Cashier. I moved up to Ticket Vendor and eventually Customer Service rep, which was about as close as a high school could be to being an supervisor. Loved that job.

Before that I 'worked' for my youth minister. I cleaned out the vans, did research, cleaned the closets, cleaned the storage rooms, cleaned the attics, filed papers, and cleaned the youth room after parties. I was paid with the occasional free lunch and promises that this 'would be good for my future career as a youth minister.' I look back on it now as slave labor.

Share a story about a severe winter storm.

Senior year, some time around spring break, 3 feet of snow fell in like 3 days. 3 more feet fell over the course of the next few weeks. School was shut down for something like 3 or 4 weeks. It was a heavy snow, if you scooped out a hollow you could see the ice taking in sunlight and almost glowing a soft blue. It was beautiful. At its height it reached about 4 1/2 feet, maybe a bit more. It was solid enough that if I stayed absolutely still, it would support my weight on top of the snow. My dog loved running on top of the snow, peeking his tiny head over the fence, surely an absurd sight for anyone on the other side of the fence. He'd run in circles around the entire yard until he'd hit a soft spot and disappear. Then his little miniature schnauzer face would pop up, his beard white with snow.

Has a pastor or a visiting missionary ever come over to your house for dinner or tea? Share one vivid experience.

Did the visiting missionary every come over for tea? No. No they didn't. But I never grew up in 19th century India, so maybe thats why.

Michael's Reflections =) 1-10

Favorite Pastime: What was your favorite pastime as a child? Did you prefer doing it alone or with someone else?

I loved to read as a child. I remember loving the local library, and the day I discovered I could get my own library card and check out books for free as often as I wanted, I was hooked. It got to a point where I would wander over to the Young Adult section and pick a book out based on the cover art alone. Being a somewhat fantasy-struck young boy, this drove me to reading a lot about dragons and folklore and myth from around the world. I became something of a young faux-expert in the areas of heavenly bodies and cultural lore. Everything from textbooks on astronomy to Chinese folklore to science fiction, I was a nerd several years before I defined any sense of identity to myself. Even the occasional children's drama, such asTales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom! found their way into my ever-increasing stack of novels.

As it was, however, reading didn't make for much social interaction. Understandably, my parents wanted me enrolled in Little League sports, and they tried to keep me active as much as possible. I tried, but my heart wasn't in it. My mother even joked that she often expected to see me out in left field with a book hidden in my mitt.

With the information age, most of my reading is done on a computer screen, but I've not lost my love of consuming written media. Whether it be research or entertainment, I don't think I'll ever lose my affection for it.

Name: Who gave you your name and why? Did you have a family nickname? How did you get it?

I assume it was my mother. I don't know much about the early years of my life, for reasons we won't go into here. My middle name, Lynn, is a family name. It is my mother's, and her father's before her. Beyond that, I do not know.

Bedroom: Describe your childhood bedroom. What was the view like from your window?

I moved around a lot as a child. I don't have one particular room that stands out in my mind as my room. Especially since I often shared with my younger brother. When I think of my room, the closest I can come to are two rooms, in the house near the church, and the house near Tony's Meats. (I don't remember the street names, and am FAR too lazy to be bothered to look them up.) In both cases, my bedroom was in the basement, removed from the rest of the house and from prying eyes visiting unannounced. In both cases, the rooms were small, only a small portion of the available space in the basement, leaving room for not much more than a bed, a dresser, and maybe a desk or bookshelf. I liked it that way. They both felt more like a home base than a living space. A safe place I could retreat to. I've not felt a sense of personal owned space like that in a very long time.

Baptism: Were you baptized or dedicated as an infant? If so, where and by whom?

Not as an infant. I was a young man, 12 or 13 I think. I was living in Lubbock at the time and was attending church on a regular basis, though I was not particularly involved. I was good friends with a young man named Tim Demastus, who I often saw at church. His entire family, in fact, were very kind and welcoming people. One day Tim's sister, Becca got baptized during the morning service. She was a few years younger than I. That day, her family and mine went out to lunch, and Becca received much praise and attention at the table. I craved that. So I strategically waited for a couple of weeks so as to not seem suspicious, crafty little bugger I was at the time, and I brought up the subject of baptism to my father one night before bed. Of course he was so proud. And my mother was right on board, suggesting that her father would be perfect to baptize me as he was a preacher. I went right along, playing the pious young church boy. After it was done, I got to go out to lunch and be lavished with praise and attention. And the next day? I was plain old me again. I wasn't a holy figure, I wasn't a respected entity among my peers. I was just me, same old me. The only difference was I had learned a lesson about manipulation, and how giving people what they want is so so easy, and leaves you feeling so so empty.

...I miss my friend, Tim.

Where did your father go to work every day and what did he do?

My father worked several odd jobs. We moved to Denver when he got a job offer. I don't remember the details but it was something labor-intensive. Laying pipe or digging ditches, some rubbish like that. He eventually began selling cars at John Elway Dodge. Dad wasn't home much, the days were often early to begin and late to leave. We didn't see much of him, especially during high school. But we were always grateful for him. We knew he wouldn't have been away from home unless he had to be.

How did your mother spend her day? Did she have a job or do volunteer work outside the home?

Mom usually worked. Secretary work mostly. Often in public schools. She worked at Arapahoe High School for years. I think she liked that job. At first I thought it would be trouble, going to the same high school that my mother worked at. When I eventually transferred to Arapahoe, I discovered it to be both a blessing and a curse. I couldn't get away with skipping class. At all. I mean, ever. Every set of adult eyes in those hallways knew who I was and somehow, where I was supposed to be. On the other hand, the staff would often buy me breakfast if I needed it. And I fast discovered that being well known, regardless of the reasons why, had several advantages.

Describe what the family living room looked like when you were a child.

Always immaculate. Mom was very insistent on having a very clean house. I hated it at the time, of course, because that meant accepting my share of chores. Dusting and vacuuming, et cetera. Looking back on it now, I am grateful for that. I enjoy a clean house. I feel more relaxed in a clean and orderly house. My wife will take that as a shot on her part, but she should know better.

What kind of prayer did you say before you went to sleep? Who taught you how to pray it?

I don't remember who taught this to me, but it has stuck with me. I learned early on that my personal relationship with God was nobodies business but my own. I also liked the idea of a personal and approachable God. So my prayers were often very informal, and usually on the fly. I rarely said a prayer before bed, but then, I rarely said a traditional prayer. In my mind, God was more like a psychic friend, following me around. If I ever wanted to convey something to him, I just thought it. Surely the Almighty God knew my very thoughts. In retrospect, it was probably presumptuous, but it remains the method by which I pray to this day.

Where was your childhood home located? Did you enjoy living there?

Several places in Lubbock, several places in New Mexico. I don't have a childhood home in mind. I never grew too attached to one place. Did I enjoy living there? Usually not.

Describe your grandparents' houses. Did you visit them often? Why or why not?

The grandparents on my father's side moved often. Again, I don't associate one house with them. I did visit them usually at least once every summer. I didn't get along well with my grandmother on that side at the time, but I was very close to my grandfather. I respected him, very very much. I got my love of science fiction from him, as well as a fondness for a forged blade. I miss him too.

My grandparents on my mother's side stayed put through most of my childhood. New Home, Texas. A little yellow house next door to the church where my grandfather preached. It always smelled of wood grain and popcorn. Grannymom would never hesitate to make me a snack and soda while I set up on the couch in the TV room to watch a movie with Daddad. Some of my happiest days were in that house. Toy pistols and books and bicycles and horses and sunsets. A simpler and happy time.