Saturday, June 14, 2014

Ten Things of Thankful: Separated At Birth




If there were ever a Ten Things of Thankful that was easy to write, it would be this one, because I GOT TO MEET CHRISTINE FROM IN THE COOP! So many, many things about this made my list of Ten Things of Thankful:

1. I was delighted when Christine messaged me that her daughter's soccer team made it to regional competition and would be in Kansas City for a few days, which is only a two and a half hour drive from Joplin. The only reason she was excited to drive 8 hours each way and stay in a hotel for three days was because she was going to get to see me.

Getting closer!
2. It felt a little bit as though I were going on a blind date, especially when I shopped at Kohl's for a new shirt to wear when I met her. How dorky is that? I finally picked one out (in olive green, which matches my eyes), but Friday morning, I changed my mind at the last possible minute about wearing it and put on something else. I did take the shirt along with me in case I changed my mind yet again, because, yeah. I went to my monthly oncologist appointment, and as soon as it was over, I was off.

3. My car is having some digestive issues, so my parents let me drive one of their cars to see Christine. As if that weren't sweet enough, they gave me the one with Sirius radio in it, and I jammed all the way there.

4. It is a straight shot from here to Kansas City; the car could practically drive itself, if necessary. I did take one detour in the little town of Butler to visit the Mennonite bakery there. I needed to pick up a package of their fabulous sour cream sugar cookies to make up for the usually delicious but this time crappy caramel popcorn that I made for Christine that morning. I knew it was a mistake to try to make it in humid weather, and I was not disappointed; as soon as it cooled off, it became sticky. I should have just mailed her some at Christmas, but at the time, I was afraid it would be bounced around so much traveling to Indiana that it would arrive as little caramel-covered crumbs. In hindsight, that would have been better than the sticky pieces I gave her on Friday. 

5. We met at the zoo, because Cuckoo (who is four AND A HALF) had been a good sport since they got there and needed a break. This also was a safe and public place in case either of us had used an elaborate scheme to convince everyone we were a woman/mom blogger, when in reality we were an ax murdering man. 



6. We texted each other with countdowns and updates all morning, right up until we met up inside the zoo. I spied Cuckoo first, in the distance, sticking his head in the mouth of a lion statue. As I drew closer, I heard my name called, and there she was! We hugged and hugged and hugged (but did not cause a scene). Then I stepped back and looked at her and said, "I have that exact same shirt!" Yes, folks, she was wearing the shirt I had bought to wear for our "date" and that was currently in my car. She had just purchased the shirt, in blue, that matched her eyes, a week or two earlier. HOW WEIRD IS THAT? GREAT SCOTTS THINK ALIKE, DON'T THEY, CLARK?

Matching shirts. On accident.

7. We walked through the zoo and talked and talked and talked. Our two years of blog friendship meant we already knew quite a bit about each other, saving us from wasting our precious time together laying a foundation of information. We just visited as though we did this every day. (How I wish we could!) We trailed along wherever Cuckoo wanted to go, looking at animals. Best quote of the day from Cuckoo (who was everything I expected him to be and more): 

Two new friends.
"Hey, the gorilla is picking his nose and eating it just like I do!"

8.The Kansas City Zoo is very spread out. When we were in the Africa section, it pretty much felt like we had hiked all the way to the actual continent. That's where we were when the zoo closed at 4:00, and we got to see the zookeepers letting the animals into their nighttime quarters. And the fact that the zookeepers were around leads to this big thing of thankful: Christine didn't get thrown into zoo jail when she reached over the edge of a bridge and said she was going to touch the antler of some antelope-type creature (he was sticking it up there, taunting her), and out of nowhere, one of the zookeepers said, very snippily, "Don't touch the antlers!" 

Then they should have made
 the fence higher
9. I tripped over my shoe three different times and didn't fall down. That's another big thankful.

10. We trudged to the parking lot after our long trek from Africa to head to Christine's hotel on the other side of town. She left shortly before I did, we took slightly different routes out of the area, and pulled into the hotel parking lot at the exact same moment thirty minutes later. Another Scott thing, I'm sure.

11. We picked up Christine's daughter from the hotel, got in Christine's car, and headed out for dinner. The only one who had any real preference about where we went was Cuckoo, who wanted pasta. He would also settle for eating at Chuck E. Cheez-its.  We meandered around for about twenty minutes before we (in truth, Buttercup spied it and laid out all the reasons why it would be the best choice for dinner) found an outstanding Italian restaurant that was a buffet. The pasta dishes and salads were made fresh in front of you, and it was all delightfully garlicky. The hostess gave us a tour of the buffet area before she seated us, which we needed, since there were many yummy items from which to choose, and they were about as spread out as the animals at the Kansas City Zoo. Cuckoo ate pizza instead of pasta. Buttercup proved again and again what a peach she is.

12. Back to the hotel, and after getting Cuckoo into his pajamas and settled into bed, watching tv, I put on my Bobbsey Twins shirt and we fired up my laptop in order to join the Friday Video Chat, joining Lizzi, Clark, Denise, Zoe and a few others. There was much laughter and taking of screen shots (something neither of us knew you could do in the first place). Because of the goofy way we were sharing a pair of earphones, Lizzi started referring to us as Siamese twins.

Video chat. Joined at the headphone.


13 (because it was Friday the 13th, even though I'm not superstitious). Too soon, it was time for me to hit the road for home. We stood at the car, once again hugging and hugging and hugging. Laid the groundwork for spending an entire weekend together, hopefully SOON. 

As Christine declared on numerous occasions throughout the day, we were definitely separated at birth. And I'm thankful that we were reunited IN REAL LIFE. Finally! 

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42 comments:

  1. I am jealous and happy for you both! (And glad that neither of you is an axe murderer.)

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    1. We really were who we said we were (unlike the Idaho potato farmer who masks himself as a blogger from England). We had such a wonderful time! If I ever make it to LA, Kristi....

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    2. Of course!

      Wait, what? I suddenly have a very different picture of Lizzi!

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    3. Now I'm scared for Christine. Who is she meeting in England? :-)

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  2. You both were such fun at the chat! Unfortunately I cant get the Patty Duke theme song out of my head now....but hey...small price to pay!

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    1. "You could lose your miiiiiind...."
      We were adorkable, weren't we? So glad we were able to drop in on the Vid Chat together. And that you were there! You're NEVER there when I show up!

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    2. I poop out fast and I work on Sat. mornings so must get some sleep... I am not like our fearless , sleepless leader!

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    3. We'll make plans to be on there the same time, then. K?

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  3. Love, Love, Love, LOOOOVVVEEE this!!!!!!! Can't believe you two bought the same shirts!! Coincidence??? I think not. ;)

    How great and fun for you to meet IRL!!

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    1. SO. MUCH. FUN!

      Definitely not a coincidence that we bought the same shirt!

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  4. What a meet up!! Both of you are so photogenic!

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  5. One of my favourite VidChats for sure! (that, and the fact that after youse were all gone, at the last moment, in came Sandy, and we ended up talking for another few hours, which was SO lovely, and Michelle popped in, too)

    It's SO CUTE that you both got the same shirt to wear :D I love that you had so very much fun, and that you're going to meet up again. This is the thing which BAFFLES me - y'all are in the same country, yet you don't all rush to meet up! I would be ON THAT if I were there.

    But I guess I underestimate (again) how very BIG 'Merica is...

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    1. 500 miles from my house to hers. And the only way to get there is to drive or fly - no trains around here. Well, passenger trains, anyway. Maybe I can hop a coal train to Indy?

      We needed way more time together than we got, but we're going to work on remedying that! Enjoy your time with her!

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  6. (Michelle: when have you ever seen a boring photo of a lion (or other large cat) taken at a zoo or in the wild or anywhere? never? correct! lol)

    the was a fun vidchat… (no, I'm not surprised at the 'coincidence' of shirts lol)

    very cool the meeting in the real world… this whole internet us amazing enough, the opportunity to actually see the person in the flesh… must be a lot like the first time, when I was in, like, the third grade and I saw my teacher in the supermarket… there was this moment, 'what? wow! you're real!'

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    1. She was real and not a man with an ax, which was a relief to find out!

      So, did having the two Scotts TOGETHER at the vidchat scare you a little, hmmmm?

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    2. as I met aphorized at someone else's Post, about the experience, I believe I said, 'think about Cirque du Soleil doing a lion tamer act'.

      ;p
      (yes, that was a compliment*)
      *to both of us

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  7. Best post hands down!! I love everything about this right down to the identical shirts! How fun and I am so happy the two of you got to meet. I read Clark's post and I think the two of you together may have overwhelmed him. I'm sorry I missed it :).

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    1. I haven't read Clark's post yet, but I imagine we DID overwhelm him! And the whole visit was such fun! We never stopped talking and laughing. And her kids were ridiculously patient about the whole thing.

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  8. Yeah for you! You girls look so cute...I am happy for you. Even with your matching shirts...ok, that's a little creepy, actually. But in a cute way...no, not really.

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    1. You were supposed to be hiding in her suitcase!
      Matching shirts. We had matching shirts. Would never have believed that would happen.

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  9. Oh my word, I completely forgot about the gorilla picking his nose comment until I read this. Made me laugh all over again.
    As for the popcorn, it is delicious. We ate it the whole way back to Indiana. And the cookies are fantastic.
    You are a gem, not even mentioning the bickering going on the back seat during those 20 minutes looking for a restaurant. :)
    I am so, so, so glad you drove all that way so we could spend the afternoon together. I would have been pretty grouchy, having to be in Kansas for 4 days when I could be at home getting ready for England. Instead, it was a fabulous trip for which I will forever be grateful. We will most certainly get together again for a much longer time!

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    1. He said it so matter-of-factly.
      It was sticky. But thank you! Those cookies are something else. Wish I knew the Mennonite secret!
      Like I've never heard bickering from the backseat.
      ME, TOOOOO! If the team makes it again next year, I'm staying all four days :)

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  10. Great post! Great pics! And great that you and Christine got to meet. Same shirts? Yeah, that's a bit freaky. I'm with Mrs. Random on that one. LOL Sounds like the beginning of a great friendship Louie:)
    Totally enjoyed the vid chat Friday. The fact that you 2 popped in the way you did, made it more so. Here's to the conjoining of VL with RL!

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    1. It was great to see you on the chat! I need to figure out how to look at the pictures that were taken there. (Who knew you could take pictures?!) The shirt thing was unbelievable. Of all the shirts in the world from all the stores in the world, we picked the same one.

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  11. What a fabulous recap! What a fabulous meeting! Isn't it all wonderful? And I love your matching shirts.

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  12. Seriously, so awesome you both got to meetup and will say I saw the pic of you two on iInstgrM earlier in the week and couldn't help, but smile. But still just so glad you both got to do this and loved the recap of your time spent together :)

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    1. Thanks, Janine! Just wish we could have spent more time together.

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  13. It is wonderful to see an Internet friend in person like this. The fact that you have bought the same shirts is really amazing!

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    1. Can you believe we had the same shirt? It was such a fun day together!

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  14. How cool is that, all of it?! I'm so glad y'all got to meet up and it went so well. The deal with the matching shirts is pretty crazy!

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    1. I think we both knew going into it that it was going to be a good thing. Just didn't realize HOW good!

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  15. Oh how WONDERFUL!!! Just so cool- all of this! The shirts? Amazing. And what an incredible time it seems you both had bonding more in person- don't you just love that? LOVE the pictures, and yet another example of how blogging truly does create deep and lasting friendships.

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    1. Yes! I know more detail about some of my blogging friends than I do some of my IRL friends. It was a terrific blind date :)

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  16. OMG this is SO cool! And I'm SO jealous of your great meet up and your fun videochats and how freaking cute you both look in photos. I am positively the LEAST photogenic person on the planet. Even the Hub tells me so. :(

    What a great opportunity - so glad it was such a great visit!

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  17. That is so totally AWESOME! The shirts, too funny! I am sad I missed this past vidchat, the only downside to vacation! Hopefully you'll both be joining in again, and on a day when I don't fall asleep in my kids' room (that is rare these days.) A few days after this, I met Zoe! Ah, the Blog Life!

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  18. Great post...loved reading about your meeting with Christine..I loved the matching shirt, not freaky at all but definitely a testament to your friendship! have a great week! :)

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  19. SO fun! Glad you had a great time. It's fun to meet blog friends in real life. Especially when they aren't axe murderers.

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