Friendly Reminder

There are some scary thoughts that cross your mind when you start a new chapter of your life. When you are forced to face new challenges and leave the comfort zone you created for yourself. When I started packing to move, for the first time, in my life I became sad. I have NEVER been sad leaving my small town. I think this time it’s because I will truly be alone in my new place. I thank the good lord Jesus for phones and internet for keeping me seconds away from those I love. 

New challenges and new chapters are part of everyone’s path. Not everyone’s path has friends, let alone good ones. Somewhere, some how along my path I was blessed with the best ones out there.

         If we start at the beginning these two girls have been in my life as long as I can remember. If three friends could go down completely different paths, it’s us. Our family has grown by two, but we remain close and continue eating Casa every chance we get. 

        My path brought this lovely lady next. She’s my very own feisty red head. Through thick and thin and crying phones and drunken nights. She remains my rock. 

 
 These two ravishing creatures are my incredibly funny, hippie-life, I do what I want best friends. They are each others support and because of that the rest of us rely on them. One has been around longer, an original birthday party member and the closet crazy you always want on your side of the fight. The other our missing piece. We didn’t know what we were missing until we found her. 

       This guy. That’s all I can really say. Bus partner, future husband, the guy with ten thousand names. Porky, Klaus, Klausy, Nick, Nick-Klaus. God bless him for putting up with me for all these years. 

      Mom. Big hair and a big heart. Jelly fish in her swimsuit bottoms. Taking no crap from nobody. Giver of the best hugs. Our anchor. 

   



   Bernie. Local yankee and my personal gossip hub. Our weekly phone calls keep me laughing and connected.  Our lives surprisingly alike. 

    

  I couldn’t write a homage to my friends without this one. A large chunk of my semi-adult life was spent with him. He knows me better than I give him credit for and he’s never too busy to listen to me vent. 



     My little mermaid, I picked this girl up our freshman year of college. Random roommates and instant best friends.
 Five years later we’re still going strong. 
I don’t tell her enough how much I love her.

        Big Momma. I want to stop there because that really does say it all. This wonderful woman can be a mentor and a good time. I feel bad for anyone who doesn’t have the chance       to know this girl because she is one of the most supportive people in my life. 

   

     Ohh Brooklynn. One regret of college is not meeting this girl sooner. We were meant to be friends. Everyone has that friend that will literally ALWAYS be there for you, and that is this girl. 

        Then you find work friends. Not everyone is lucky enough to work with people they actually like outside of work. My life would have been much worse without these people. Work wasn’t a total drag.

     Then there’s this really cool moment where the friends you made in college meet the ones you’ve had your whole life and everything just gets ten times better. I was lucky enough to have the best high school friends. I was even luckier that they made awesome college friends. Together we made a complete group. Awesome and overwhelming. 

                                            Stay Sassy - A. 

    

Uncertainty, Selfishness and the Casino of Life

Summer is winding down. It’s back to school for me and I can’t help but wonder where did all my time go? I had all these grand summer plans. Ya know what I did? I read. A lot. I’ve read at least 20 books in the last two months. 
Mostly the same series. Then one day the main character talks about how she’s in love with two men. I got to thinking about what I would do if that happened to me. I know what it’s like to be in love and I can’t imagine it happening at the same time. How would I ever choose between them? 
All that is neither here nor there. I’m sure a pro/con list would be made. Then, ultimately, in the end I would lose them both because of my indecision to choose. 
I’m smart, not genius level by any means, but I can hold my own. The problem I’ve developed recently is laziness. I don’t have the drive that used to catapult me through every day. I’ve tossed around some ideas for this new development and all I can come up with is my uncertainty levels are too high.
It’s just like when you have a mountain of homework and have no clue where to begin so you take a nap instead. I am so overwhelmed with thoughts of the future I don’t want to deal with any of it. 

So I read. 

I leave the world in which all my “problems” come from and enter a fictional one to which I am merely a spectator. Escaping the realties that wait for me back in my world. 
  Even as I type this I’m aware of how dramatic I sound. Ridiculous. I’ve got my sad song playlist singing out too. I’m one more Dixie Chicks  song away from full on wallowing mode. 
And for what? My life is going in the right direction. Full ride to Auburn for grad school. Supportive friends and family. I have successfully made it to 22 years old. 
I need some sort of affirmative action in my life. I’m still waiting for the  day when everything just makes sense. However, I become more convinced every day that only happens in fiction. We here in the real world are left to our own devices. Justifying and explaining our lives to ourselves and others. 
An impossible task unless we first accept it ourselves. Airlines had it right. How can we possibly help our neighbor if we don’t put our mask on first. Selfishness has become an acceptable behavior when it leads to the betterment of others. We cannot begin to bet on the cards we’re dealt until we’ve had a chance to look at them. 
I think I’ve hit my metaphor limit. Moving on.
Once you’ve had a chance to look at the cards in your pile you make a plan. You are given a chance to see what you’ve been dealt and the time to decide how you can take them and turn them into winners. Life is just one big gamble on the cards of chance. Accept what you’ve been given, but never be too afraid to go all in. Casinos are 24/7 if you lose don’t worry,  you’ll be dealt another set. 

 

                                           Stay Sassy - A. 

My Tupperware Cherry

Roughly three weeks ago I attended my first Tupperware party. I was the youngest girl in the room, but that didn’t slow down the other ladies. I went in to the party with a completely open mind. Thinking that the whole experience would be very domestic. An event June Cleaver and Betty Draper themselves would attend. 

Upon entering the room I was immediately offered Sangria or a Long Island. This was obviously going to be my type of party. Our Tupperware representative had already begun her opening speech, but graciously welcomed me into the room and gave me a folder to follow along in. 

Ok, I thought, I’m going to need about 30 more glasses of this Sangria to get through this night. My mind was everywhere trying to keep up and wondering when I’d be able to eat. 

Now, there’s something you need to know about Tupperware - it’s amazing. You can basically do anything you want with it. Cups, bowls, plates, pitchers, canisters... you name it, they have it and they have a million different uses for it. I was intrigued. 

That’s when I saw it the “Side-by-Side.” It was basically made just for me (and the only thing I bought at the end of the night). A small container with a divider down the middle to keep whatever you put in it from touching. GENIUS. There is nothing I hate more in life than my food touching. 

The party continued and these ladies turned about to be quite the crowd. I started jotting down some notes along with funny things that were said. 

• While our host was demonstrating this chopper that had a crank much like an old school lawn mower everyone watched in amazement. The oldest lady in the room asked for a closer looked, followed by saying “How many times do you have to pull that?” 
• I frantically looked around the room to see if anyone else was giggling. 
• Another similar incident happened soon after. While trying to clarify the difference in sizes of certain bowls our host said “That’s the small deep.” Not funny on it’s own, but it was met by a chorus of “that’s what she said.” 
• Tupperware makes this magical, microwavable bowl that can cook a cake in 8 minutes. I’m telling you, magic. So after this was demonstrated our host was trying to release the cake from the bowl. “I’m going to take that cake and turn out.” 
• Again, I might have been the only one in the room to find this funny. 

I want to encourage anyone who has the opportunity to attend a Tupperware party to go. I promise you will have a good time. By the end of the night I had won 3 or 4 door prizes, bought something, been fed and had a few drinks. A successful night overall. 

I learned some important life lessons as well: “Have Tupperware, will travel” “The microwave: friendliest appliance in the kitchen.” 

I left feeling domestic and recharged. After I get to old for the bar scene I can start going to Tupperware parties, it was basically the same thing. Even better, I could sell it. Our host makes 3 figures a year selling and mentoring other Tupperware employees. Not a bad career choice. 

The whole experience was fascinating. My Tupperware cherry had been popped and I was never going back.

Stay Sassy - A.