Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The Glen Oak Experience

Me and Meri. Many years and a lifetime ago, we met on the third floor of Heitz Hall at Bradley. I had been on campus for orientation a few days before the bulk of students arrived and was excited to hear my first dorm neighbor rustling around next door. Meri--unpacking clothes and chatting my ear off. It was the start of one defining, life-altering year.

2008 and Meridith (as she is now called) and I are mommies and wives. A night out means plenty of planning and preparation. No more all night beveraging and dancing. No more all day sleeping (or all night sleeping as a matter of fact). Our beverages are caffienated (for the most part) these days. The last dancing I did was to an Elmo dvd. And, if I'm up at 2 a.m., it's because I'm listening to Jack's breathing on the monitor, tuned to any abnormal sounds. Our husbands wouldn't even be able to fathom our young, crazy days, and probably shouldn't even try to. I need to search my collage photos for a pic of us from back then; one that is tasteful enough for this family show.


A few weeks ago, we met up at Glen Oak park for a picnic, with her husband and three kiddos and Jamie and my lil' dude. Janssen, her oldest, is a pre-teen, which is hard to believe. Olivia, the middle one, is the spitting image of Meridith. Aleise, her youngest, gave little head butts to Jack as a substitute for kisses. Jack was mainly in observation mode, but consented to chuckle a bit when I took him for a ride down the slide.
My little peanut is the smallest, held by Meri's oldest. If we only knew now...

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