Day 8

Today was nice and relaxing after the past couple of days. I was able to sleep in again (YAY!) after not sleeping well since before the wedding 4 1/2 months ago. Maybe all this Bakersfield sunshine and heat is plain tuckerin me out! Hopefully, once I get home to Seattle, the good sleeping will continue. There's nothing quite as painful as still being awake when my husband is waking up to go to work in the morning.

Anyway, today I was able to spend most of the day at my parent's house. I did a load of laundry (so I don't have to take a suitcase of dirty clothes home) and took my time getting ready for dinner at the Chambless's. My mom and I went to Gottschalk's so that she could purchase a Willow Tree figurine for a co-worker who is retiring and moving to Colorado. While we were there I couldn't help but puruse the baby clothes section (sorry, honey!). They were actually having quite a nice sale so I found these adorable onesies for the twins.

After we got back to the house, I took off to the sticks to Scott, Lorie & Henry's house for dinner. I stopped off at Trader Joe's to pick up 2 crowns of rolls for my contribution to dinner (on Lorie's suggestion...and they were SO good!). I had a few minutes once I got there to catch up with Scott, with whom time seems to have always stood still. We're always able to pick right up again teasing each other and hurling insults...you know, in a loving way. Soon Marky Mark, Christie & sweet baby Sam showed up. It was so surreal to finally meet Christie and Sam whom I feel I already know from blogging. Christie is every bit as sweet in person as I would've guessed and Sam is every bit as adorable. I got to hold him for awhile and get spit up on, but who minds a little bit of spit up when you're holding a precious child? Marky Mark is the same. Firing off question after question in true interrogation form to find out as much information about my life now in as little time as possible. Though he terrorized me as a child, I can see that he's grown up to be a pretty fantastic husband and father, and I couldn't be happier for him.

Shortly thereafter Sarah Jane & Ryan arrived. It's always so much fun to catch up with these two. We chatted about teaching and got to hear some really hilarious stories of students and co-workers. Ryan always manages to find himself in the most unusual situations which lends itself nicely to great stories. In any case, it's always nice to visit with friends who haven't changed completely just because they're adults. We still laughed at the same poop and fart jokes...

Finally, David showed up to round out our crew. I just adore David. He has always been a kindred spirit of mine, and though we didn't get nearly as much time together to talk, I still thoroughly enjoyed visiting with him in the context of our old group of friends.

We sat down to a wonderfully prepared dinner of chicken from the grill, roasted potatoes and a great spinach salad with tomatoes, and gorgonzola (and rolls!). It was such a fun time of fellowship and remembering old times. Christie even made snickerdoodles which we completely devoured forcing Lorie to bust out some chocolate chip dough from the fridge.

Eventually, we made our way back into the living room to watch The Office (which had a sweet moment that Lorie and I totally 'girled out' over) and 30 Rock ("We count those votes too"). But it was getting late, and soon it was time to say goodbye.

I always hate saying goodbye to my friends here because I never know when I might see them again. Especially with my parents thinking of eventually making the move to the Pacific Northwest, it breaks my heart to think that I wouldn't have an excuse then to come down and visit them. I'd love for my children to be friends with their children, but as life goes on, it seems to get in the way of these hopes being realized. But I really enjoyed myself last night and even thought as I drove home that I think I'd be able to eventually get used to the weather and live here if it meant getting to see these friends more often. I dunno. I guess for all of my youthful 'big talk' about NEVER moving back to Bakersfield, the valuable realtionships I've been able to maintain with life-long friends can soften those hard edges.

Thank you, Chamblesses, for opening your home for our little reunion last night and for graciously feeding all of us. Your generosity of heart and home made it a night to remember. I'm so glad to have blogger to keep in touch and up to date with all that you have going on in your lives. Know that I think of you all often and with much fondness...

I love you all!

*I regrettably didn't get any pictures of last night. Between the chatting and the eating I didn't grab the chance to take my camera out...and truthfully, I was pretty intimidated to take pics with my little point and shoot in the presence of both Lorie and David*