When I was a little girl, I lived in San Antonio, and my family was really involved in our church. Because of that, we had several families that we became very close to, and several of us are still in contact with each other so many years later. It's heartwarming, honestly, to know that some of my favorite memories growing up are shared with people that I'm not related to, but still talk to, even now that I'm in my 30s.
Since my brain rarely forgets, I have tons of memories of running around with Jillian in her backyard, playing the most awesome clubhouse EVER, and climbing the corners of her fence to talk to the neighbors. I have memories of Hugga Bunch movies, driving her older brother and sister INSANE, and "beach blanket sea parties." Our oldest kids are a month apart, and we don't see each other often, but we still keep in touch on a regular basis.
I have tons of memories or making white chocolate covered, peanut butter sandwiched Ritz crackers with the Carrs while our dads worked on making sure both of our family cars where running smoothly before we did a late-night caravan to San Antonio from Midland. I remember my dad being sneaky and saying something to my mom about how he needed to go get "The automobiles" and it never even registering that he was talking about the family until Clinton walked into the kitchen in his gray sweatsuit with hand painted tic tac toe designs in red and blue on the sweatshirt. I remember playing Super Mario Bros. 2, playing leap frog through the living room, and the three against one fight where us girls forced Clinton to dress up like a girl...along with so many more memories.
But today, and for the last week or so, I've been running through the memories in my brain that have to do with the Matlocks. Amy is one of my dearest friends, and I'm so delighted to be her maid of honor this summer. She's sandwiched between my sister and myself, so when we were kids, they were into the more "girly" stuff, and I hung out with Chris (whom I had always considered "my" person in the Matlock family), the "older man." It's funny to think how ridiculous we were back then; we both obviously had crushes on each other, but were ridiculously shy...like, couldn't make eye contact without consuming large amounts of Mountain Dew, shy. I remember when Mattie was born, too, and how much fun we used to have with him, pulling him around inside a suitcase in their basement. Ahhh, the good old days!
My memories with the Matlocks span the longest, even though they moved away from San Antonio before I did, and I swear (as a kid) I thought their backyard went on for miles. I remember staying with them for what seemed like weeks when my dad was in the hospital with pneumonia. I remember Ms. Becca driving us over to see him, and coining the phrase "Silly Willy Dingdongbell" in the backseat, amidst fit upon fit of giggles. I remember Chris being ridiculously shy, even when we were 5(ish), but still being one of my best pals. We went on a summer vacation together, where we chased fireflies, rolled down grassy hills, and swam in the river.
Another year, we went to visit them in St. Louis, and I think that's really when I became cognizant of Chris being the older, super cute, boy...and when I realized that he was probably just as scared of me as I was of him. Fast forward twenty years, and imagine my surprise when I get a text message from him saying he'll be in Dallas in a week. Do I want to have lunch/dinner? Absolutely!
So, we did. I've seen Amy more recently than any of them, but it was so great to see a familiar face; a face that has changed and grown up, but is still the face I remember as a child/teenager. We caught up over lunch at Pei Wei, and then I went off to prepare for the next doctor's appointment (more about that in a second) while he went off to prepare to give a workshop nearby. After he finished, he came over, met N, ate some beef stew, and we had some more delightful conversation.
It's a shame that it took 20 years to reconnect, but I don't think it will be nearly as long before we see each other/talk to each other again. At the very least, I'll get to see the entire Matlock crew in May/June when Amy gets married! Now that communication has been reestablished, he's not getting rid of me that easily! We have had some similar life changes in recent years: separation, single parenting two children, prioritizing, and realizing that maybe (just maybe) we don't have it all figured out. I can't describe how awesome it is to be able to talk to someone who actually gets where you're coming from. At the very least, I'll get to see the entire Matlock crew in May/June when Amy gets married!
Side note: I realized that almost every single family we spent time with, growing up, had boys my age. I was always friends with boys more so than girls, even very early on...something that typically tends to be the case, even as an adult. Hmmm, strange.
As for the rest of my day...B had an appointment with an allergist this morning, and low and behold, he's still allergic. To everything. His stepmom and I both went to the appointment, and we're both thrilled with the doctor as well as her treatment plan for him. The poor kid had to do the scratch test on his back, and even at 4:30 this afternoon, he still had huge red marks all over his back. I ran him to school after his first appointment, and when he got off the bus, we took off for another appointment, this time with a chiropractor/nutritionist. He giggled and squirmed as he got adjusted, and now we're all set to see the nutritionist.
In a perfect world, changing some aspects of his diet and routine preventative measures will help get his allergies under control. His allergies trigger his asthma, and then everyone's miserable. Ultimately, we're hoping to get him off of all meds permanently, only having to use over the counter allergy meds for crazy flare-ups. It's hard to see the tiny light at the end of this tunnel, but if we can survive the long road ahead, I think we'll get there. No child should have the quality of life (or lack thereof) that B has had to deal with.
N spent the afternoon shooting hoops with his dad and hanging out with Baby E. He came home, snarfed some food, played some Xbox, and hung out with me until Chris came for dinner. I've been tripping down memory lane a lot lately, so he wanted to meet some of the people I talk about. He's met Amy and Jillian, so it was nice to add another face to the mix. He's excited about his last basketball game: partially because it means the season is over, and partially because it's a noon game so he can sleep in.
Man, sleeping in sounds so good to me right now...so does sleeping in general!
Aubs
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