01.22.06

My happiest moments

Posted in The Backstory at 12:03 pm by Jules

This list was supposed to be limited to seven, but fuck it, it’s my blog and I’ll be self indulgent if I want to. And- I think it’s a good thing that I have more than seven happy memories….

No order, just how I’m remembering them right now.

Tom Petty concert with Karla May. For my birthday in 1999, GP had gotten me two Tom Petty tixs. This is my most favorite birthday present EVER as I love (stars in my eyes and a quickened heartbeat) him and this truly caught me by surprise. Leah was TINY and as such, I was tethered to her. This was only my second escape since she’d been born and GP let me go with a girlfriend. As someone who’d been home with two babies for over two years the thought of uninterrupted girlness was manna. Karla May and I sat down at the concert and were doing some serious high fives over the radness of our seats when we realized that our actual seats were even fucking better. Tom was beyond great. We danced and sang the whole time.

Going on a mini all girl excursion to Vegas with Moon, Karla May and TJ. Karla May was there for work and suggested we meet for a long weekend once she was done for her thirty something birthday throw down. Dudes- it was so much fun. Can you really go wrong with Charo, winning money in Vegas, and people I absolutely adore? I think not.

Driving past the pound and at the last moment having my missing dog, Beau run to the front of the cage. As a little girl, I had this dog that just wouldn’t die and I loved him like mad. He’d eaten rat poison, been run over more than once, lived long enough for my dad to like him and not shoot him…. he’d made it for years. Being in the non leash law part of rural southeast Texas meant that he could roam where he wanted to. For the first time, he’d traveled into lawfulness and been picked up by the dog catcher. I waited for days (hours, probably) for him to come home and kept begging my mom to drive around looking for him. Finally after Sunday School she drove round the pound. I remember having the window down and calling him name over and over and as we were about to pull away, out he came. I was so relieved and can still picture his sweet face, even down to the exact coloring of his fur.

Taking a nap with the babies. There’s no bigger oasis in my mind that I have than this. Every afternoon after lunch I’d grab the monsters and into the mommy bed we’d go. Tyler would have his hands twisted into my hair and one leg draped over my hip. Leah would sleep the best getting as close to me as she could, thank gawd she’s still snuggly like that even now. I couldn’t go to sleep until after they did, but each day as I listened to the soft rhythm of their breathing I knew they were safe, loved and with me as I fell asleep.

My wedding day. I was in love. I looked absolutely fabulous. My parents behaved. Nothing else I could have asked for.

The day I graduated from college. I’m very honored to have graduated from UT. And I did it in 4.5 years- which is hard to do. I was the first person in my dad’s immediate family to have finished college and most of them were there, even my dad’s mom, Maw Maw. It’s one sure time that I know my mom and dad were proud of me. And they were civil to each other.

Stopping at a rest-stop about 30 miles outside of Seattle. I was so excited. I’d just left Texas and on the verge of a new life. It was late March and so green (duh, Washington is the EVERgreen state…). Being there and seeing the Olympic Mountains for the first time had me just about doing cartwheels. The actual Seattle with its maze of concrete and endless traffic was much less of an apex.

Steely Dan concert with Lisa Marie. LM and I share a love of live outdoor music and there is NO better place to see it than at The Gorge, WA. Seriously, this place rawks. It’s out in the middle of nowhere and the stage sits on the edge of a canyon, well, gorge… There’s not a lot I can write that does it justice, but… being with Lisa Marie (who I consider my first grown up friend) giant sunset that colored the sky, live music, lying on a blanket, being baked, at the Gorge… Nirvana.

Going on my first grownup vacation with a man . While still dating, GP and I drove to the Oregon coast for a Memorial Day Weekend. First time I’d really been somewhere on a vacation that wasn’t with family. We stayed in a bed and breakfast- which I LOVE to do- ate whatever and whenever we wanted, shopped, read… and other fun stuff.

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