On Tuesday the 28th, I had to drive to Parkersburg to take care of a ticket I got while driving my husband's car to Laura's baby shower. It was for an expired inspection sticker, and I literally drove almost 3 hours (that's how long it takes to get there from Ashland) just to spend 8 MINUTES in the place showing them the proof of insurance. But, at least I got to spend the rest of the day hanging out with Laura one last time before her little bundle of joy arrived (more on that later).
The next day (Wednesday), I had to go to court in Huntington over my car, which everything was wrong with. Expired inspection sticker? Check. Expired tags? Check. No current proof of insurance? Check. Thankfully, once I got everything taken care of, they actually dismissed all tickets and fines against me. Next year I'll be on top of this crap, I swear!
So that night, I stayed at my parents' house because we had to take that same car up to Hurricane Thursday morning to have the power steering repaired. Apparently something malfunctioned in Saturn Ions made in 2006 and they had a recall, so at least it was free. I've been driving without power steering since April 1st, and let me tell you it sucks. Remember how older cars in the 80s weren't made with power steering anyway? Well, it wasn't physically difficult or painful to drive them. But cars that ARE made with power steering and it fails are exceptionally difficult to drive. So, 6 months later, I finally have power steering again.
That same night, I got to go watch my niece Breeann cheer at her last home football game of middle school. She's in 8th grade, and it absolutely kills me knowing she's going to be in high school next year. Kids grow up so freaking fast it's unbelievable. It was so much fun, and it made me miss the days of cheering for football (though I'd never go back to middle or high school again).
The next day (Friday), I had a lovely little slumber party with a handful of my very closest friends (minus a couple who simply couldn't be there, but I know they were with us in spirit). It was sort of a going-away thing, a last chance to get my closest friends together at one time to eat, drink, and be merry. And that we did!
The next night (Sunday), a bunch of people from Belk had a little gathering for me at BW3s in Ironton, and it was amazing. I had only been gone from work a week at this point, so it still kind of felt like I was on vacation. There were people from all different departments of the store, not just cosmetics, and I truly felt so loved by all these wonderful people. They had all pitched in and bought a white gold and diamond Eiffel Tower necklace that I'd had my eye on for literally 10 months as a going-away gift, and of course I got quite teary-eyed when I opened it. I love Eiffel Towers (I had one on top of my wedding cake) and I've worked for Lancome for several years, which is a French cosmetics company that uses the Eiffel Tower image quite often. Kim, who worked at my counter with me and who has become one of my very dearest friends, knew I'd wanted it for a long time and it was her idea to get it for me. I am eternally grateful for such a truly thoughtful, generous present and it will forever remind me of the wonderful people I had the privilege of working with and getting to know at Belk.
This is what my necklace looks like. So gorgeous!
The next day, I packed up some bags and headed to Parkersburg for the birth of my darling new god-daughter. My friend Laura and I met while working at Elder Beerman in Barboursville two and a half years ago and while we hit it off instantly, we didn't become super close until about six months into knowing each other after she had her first daughter, Reagan. She's like a sister to me, and we have such similar senses of humor, we just get each other. I'm so honored that she chose me to be the god-mother of her new baby, Cianah Jo Racer, who was born Tuesday October 5th, weighing in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces, and 22 inches long. She is perfectly healthy and absolutely beautiful. Laura had some complications during her C-section and ended up back in the hospital yesterday due to a spinal headache, but she seems to be doing better. I feel so lucky that I got to spend five days in Parkersburg at their house helping take care of Reagan and being there for Cianah's birth. It was such a special experience that I'll never forget.
I realize this is probably vaguely graphic seeing as it's Cianah's first breath of fresh air outside of the womb, but I'm just amazed by it!
Not a very happy baby just yet!
Mom, Dad, and Baby Cianah a few hours after birth.
Holding my god-daughter for the first time. Thankfully you can't see it here, but I cried like a little bitch. Which is so unlike me because I don't like children or babies or anything. But it's completely different when it's your god-daughter. It's my moral obligation to introduce this kid to chocolate, Lady Gaga, cute boys, and tequila (when she's old enough). That's a lot of pressure on me.
Friday evening after coming home from an exciting week in Parkersburg, I had another exciting event to celebrate. One of my husband's very best friends (who has subsequently become one of my very best friends, also) who happens to be dating my husband's sister, too, came home from the Air Force. Jon Ryan Bentley (or Bentley, as everyone affectionately calls him except for my sister in law, Meredith. She calls him Jon Ryan) has been in the Air Force for four years, and his time was finally up and now he's back home, so Meredith planned a little surprise welcome-home party for him on Friday night. It was so good to get to see him and spend time with family and friends.
Bentley and I didn't really get off to a fantastic start, to be honest. When I met him, he was living with my husband and our friend Derek in Myrtle Beach. We'd argue with each other and name call, even though we really didn't know each other that well. In March of 2004, I went with the three boys to Disneyworld for the UCA National Cheerleading Competition (Meredith still cheered for River Cities All-Stars, so we were going to support her). When I arrived at their apartment in Myrtle Beach, Bentley looked at me and said, "If you're here, who's watching Hell?" very seriously. That crazy road trip bonded us forever though, and we've been the best of friends ever since. Now that he's dating my sister in law (and we all know they're going to get married one day) I'm so excited at the prospect that he'll be my brother in law and we'll legally be family, because he's truly been like family to me for the last six years and I love him very dearly.
That's me and Bentley at a baseball game in Lexington about four and a half years ago, right before I moved to Chicago and he went into the Air Force.
That's my sister in law Meredith and Bentley a couple of months ago when a group of us went bowling while he was visiting. What cute lovebirds!
Yesterday (Saturday) was crazy and fun, too. I got to do makeup for a wedding, which I always love doing. It wasn't just any wedding, though - the bride was a friend of mine from high school, Shannon Sanders, whom I haven't seen in a while but love her just the same. She's a beautiful person inside and out, and she made truly one of the most beautiful brides I've ever had the pleasure of working with. It was such an honor to be a part of her special day.
Later on after doing makeup for the wedding, my sister Tracie came down and we went out to dinner and then back to my apartment for drinks and movies. Tracie and I are a little over thirteen years apart in age, and it wasn't until I was older that we became close. Because we have different mothers but share the same father, she only came to stay every other weekend with us while I was growing up, which I don't really remember much because I was so young. Now that I'm older and we have so much in common, we've become extremely close and I'm so lucky to have a sister like her that I can share anything with and trust in completely, knowing that she's always there for me. I love her and I'm going to miss getting to do things like that with her, so we truly enjoyed the night as much as we possibly could.
Tracie and I at Cactus Joe's two summers ago - so much fun!
And now I finally make it to today, my first opportunity to be completely lazy, which I have done extremely well. I've laid in bed watching movies, including "Get Him to the Greek," which was quite funny (I'm in love with Russell Brand). I also watched "Chloe," which has Amanda Seyfried, Julianne Moore, and Liam Neeson in it, and was rather surprised at how good it was. I love Movie Sundays because I just hang out in my huge comfy bed and eat junk food and revel in the opportunity to be lazy (which in my hectic life doesn't come around often).
My life is about to get even crazier, too. Not only do I need to get my ass in gear and start packing to move to Florida (no, I haven't packed a damn thing yet), I need to start getting prepared to go back to school. It's something that I've wanted to do for a while, though I never had the confidence, guts, or just plain gumption to do it. Gumption is that thing where if you have it, you know what it is, and if you don't have it, you just don't know. Well, my friends, I finally have gotten some gumption and I think I'm figuring out where I want to take my life. I'm looking into enrolling at the University of South Florida in Tampa in the Spring to begin pre-med courses, majoring in biomedical sciences. From there, I want to attend medical school, and then go on to become a surgeon. I've not been open to exploring the idea of doing this for a long time because I kept thinking, "It's going to take forever, I'm going to be so old by the time I'm done, and what if I'm just plain not cut out for med school? What if I'm just not smart enough?" But, some very wise people have told me that if I put my mind to it, I can do anything. I'm smart, I know that. My test scores and GPAs throughout high school put me in the upper percentile of my graduating class. I had higher ACT and SAT scores than most people I know. So there's no lack of intelligence on my behalf. It's just been a lack of gumption. And holy crap, I've finally got some damn gumption and I'm just going for it, and nothing's going to stop me! I realize that I'm 23 (and very, very close to 24) now, and I've got at least four years of undergrad ahead of me. That puts me at 28 when I graduate. Then, four years of med school after that, so matriculation age will be 32. Plus, since I want to go into surgery, I'll have six years of residency (1 intern year plus 5 years residency) so I'll be 38 when that's over. And then, if I do a fellowship in order to specialize, that's another 2-3 years, so I'll be at the very bare minimum 40 when I'm done with it all. And within the medical field, the education never stops. There are always medical advances and new techniques and equipment to learn how to use, so mine will be a life of learning.
I'm not going to lie, I'm absolutely terrified of doing this. But I'm also so excited I can't stand it. Maybe I'll take your appendix out one day!
I just had to add this picture of me with my friends Travis and Jess before going out to the Stonewall (a gay nightclub in Huntington) for Lady Gaga night. It absolutely rocked my world!
