Good friends...

Tricia (or Patty as some of you know her as) and Me!!!

This is another "trip to Illinois" post. One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Illinois was to see my friends. These are my friends I grew up with. They are home. They are actually where I did begin in many ways. Tricia and I have been friends since we were 2 years old. We don't remember ever not being friends. She is my sister - my family. When I think of her I feel love. Sometimes we don't talk for awhile. There have been times when we haven't talked for close to a year. It doesn't matter - we are family. At this point - we hadn't seen each other in almost 6 years. She had never met Sebastian and I had yet to see her new baby boy, Shaun. When I got to Illinois - as luck would have it - her whole family was working on a remodeling project at the tanning salon they own. I waited for a little while and then her mom came to get me. I walked into the place and we just hugged and hugged some more. Then the tears came and I couldn't imagine why we had let 6 years go by without seeing each other. When I was a kid, I would have never thought we would go a week without seeing each other. I remember when I went to Wisconsin for 2 weeks. I thought the world would end because we would be apart for so long. We had a nice and exciting visit. Some of the excitement wasn't all that pleasant, but I am sure that is why God sent me to Illinois at this particular time. I was there for a reason and I am glad I was there at exactly that time.

Jorgena with her son, TJ.

My other bestest friend in the whole wide world is Jorgena aka Jorge. I have written about her before. We met when we were were 12 - nearly 25 years ago. Again, she is my family. She probably thinks I am nuts because she is not as mushy as I am. With Jorge - I have been lucky enough to see her quite a bit over the years. Her inlaws live in Florida and she would visit at least once a year. We would meet and spend the day shopping. I loved those days. Unfortunately, I now miss them because I am in SC now. It had been quite awhile since I had seen her and I was really excited to spend some time with her. We were talking a few times a month until she recently quit her job to be a full time stay at home mom. Now, I bug her once a week and babble on and on. I love her! I love talking with her and sharing stuff. I don't know why God gave me such good friends when I was young, but I am forever grateful. Jorge graciously opened her home to me and my kids. We pretty much moved in for a week and her family made us feel so welcomed. It was nice to have a place to go and just hang out with a good friend. I don't know if there are the right words to express how great of a friend she is. She is just always there, never judging, always listening.

Jorgena, Tricia, Me, Cari and Sebastian (who didn't want to get out of the picture!)

And... thanks to Facebook... I was able to meet up with an old friend that I hadn't seen in nearly 20 years. Her name is Cari - just like mine except with a C. We were good friends in High School. We actually were pregnant at the same time. Yes, we really were nice girls - just a little off the track. She had a beautiful daughter a few months before I had Timmy. She found me on Facebook a few months ago and I told her that I would let her know if I was ever back in town. She came and met us for dinner on my last night there. Tricia and Jorgena were friends with her in High School as well, so we all had a nice time together. Something that struck me as funny though was that Cari never had anymore children. Her daughter is all grown up. I, on the other hand, had Savannah and Sebastian with me. Sebastian had to poop to be BLUNT. All through dinner, he kept urgently telling me that he needed to go potty. I would jump up quickly - fearing a nasty accident - and run him off to the bathroom. After several attempts - nothing. I felt like a jack in the box - the way I kept jumping up during dinner. I apologized I don't know how many times and Cari was sweet. Finally, he was "done" and settled for a moment. Then there was Savannah that desperately wanted to talk and talk and talk some more. I sat and looked at how calm Cari was. It just made me giggle. I love my kids and I know without a doubt this is exactly what I wanted for my life. Sometimes it is nice to think about how calm I might actually be if I had just had Timmy though. Just for a second and then I am right back to being thankful for all of my kids and all of the chaos.

Visit with Great Grandma in Illinois...

Goofy boy on a Cow!

The kids with Great Grandma Gladys.

More ice cream pictures on my blog, imagine that!

She did one with a normal smile, but I like this one better.

While were were in Illinois, we got to have lunch with the kids' great grandma. Grandma Gladys is Tim's maternal grandmother. We met her at Colonial Ice Cream one day. I asked my friend, Jorgena to go along because we were staying with her. The minute I told her Colonial - she started to laugh. I was like, "What the heck is your problem?" Then I remembered. Colonial has some very odd memories for us. When we were teenagers her mom took us there from time to time. It just seemed like we went there after some kind of drama. Yes - my life was full of drama even back then. I will share one incident, but will keep the other to myself! Sorry, some secrets need to remain in the past. Anyway, the summer I was pregnant with Timmy - I spent a lot of time with Jorgena and her mom. It was because I LOVED my friend and maybe a little about the fact that she had air conditioning and my house didn't. So, one afternoon when it was blazing hot, we went to the tanning salon. The ac was broken. I sat in the waiting room and waited. I was getting so hot and I had the worst morning/all day sickness. Her mom, Sandy, sent me down to the White Hen Pantry to get something to drink. I was obsessed with Hawaiian Punch at this stage of my pregnancy. I gulped down this huge bottle of the stuff. Then we get in the car and Sandy (a part-time realtor at the time) proceeds to drive around town looking at houses. I am getting sicker by the moment. I am also a pretty shy person back then and hate to say - STOP DRIVING AROUND BEFORE I TOSS MY COOKIES!!! I am trying so hard to not throw up and then all of a sudden it is OVER!!! Before I even realize it is happening, I am throwing up HAWAIIAN PUNCH on the backseat floor of Sandy's husband's new car. Yep! I did it! It was so gross! I admit it. Sandy has no idea I am pregnant. The only people who know are Jorgena and Tim. She is so sweet and just takes me to her house and sends me to the bathroom. My friend, Jorgena is left to help her clean up the car. Yes, I still owe her for that one. Did I happen to mention that Sandy's husband is a super jerk. I mean he hated us! So, I throw up in his new car. Great! I come down, the car is clean, life it grand and Sandy announces that she feels we need to go to Colonial for dinner. That was the last time I had been there - nearly twenty years ago. Back to the present - we arrive at Colonial and meet Tim's grandma. Sebastian was silly as always. I had to get them ice cream because well, Colonial has great ice cream. It was a nice visit and I am glad we got to do it.