ode to sandwiches

so i know i promised a happy, joyful, funny, light-hearted blog but sadness and disappointment has once again encompassed my life. i am just at a loss for words. what is it you ask that has happened this time?!?!? this week, in the beautiful state of Georgia, people will flock to the motherland of golf, to the most gorgeous place in the south, where the azaleas have been packed with ice to preserve their blooming until the appointed time, where Phil will try to once again win the coveted green jacket, where Tiger will be the most watched and most adored golfer in history, where girls will wait at holes just to see Adam Scott walk by (wait, that would be me), and yes, where for only a buck twenty-five you can enjoy a little piece of heaven right in you very own mouth. It is that time of year my friends, time for the Masters...and this year i am bowing out gracefully and sending terry without me. people have said "you will still be able to watch Phil choke it away...they will show amen corner on the screen at least a dozen times....you will get to see a close up shot of Adam Scott, you wouldn't get that if you were there." these are all very true statements...i will get to see Phil choke, azaleas in bloom and Adam up close...but it is that little buck twenty-five piece of heaven that i will miss most, long for most, crave most - the sandwiches of the Masters. I am not kidding people, my mouth is in a depression...even Addison is feeling the desperation for the coveted taste of perfect chicken salad between two pieces of white wonder bread all packaged so neatly in a plastic bag with the famous Masters logo on it. it doesn't stop there, an hour later the chicken salad is followed by the pimento cheese sandwich, then the egg salad sandwich, the BBQ sandwich, and back to chicken salad sandwich if you wish. it is a day of feasting on God's gift to sandwich lovers. but i will be OK...i will get through it. i will go to nu-way to distract my taste buds from their grief. surely nu-way can cure all woes of the mouth. surely.

so to Terry's best friend in the world, Tim, i expect you to eat those sandwiches until you can no longer stand the sight of wonder bread. try them all, try them with a coke, a sprite, or even a beer (the BBQ is really good with a beer), try them with some m&m's or a Reece's cup...just try them all. eat your heart out. and walk away with only spending ten bucks on the most fabulous feast of sandwiches. oh, and enjoy the golf!

3 years and 3 tough days

my terry has had a hard week. in my "june" blog i talked about his college friend dustin who has suffered brain injuries from a bicycle accident. monday afternoon we got the call that dustin had gone to meet jesus...he is finally whole again. within 30 mintues of that phone call we received another - one of terry's favorite students had died on the way to the hospital after collapsing at baseball practice. we spent the good part of that night at the highschool, standing on the baseball field watching hundreds of kids drown in shock, grief, anger and many, many tears. it broke my heart, it breaks my heart.

the next day, yesterday, was our 3rd anniversary. i can officially say that #3 will not go down in the record books as the most romantic. there were flowers, a good meal, and big hugs...but there was also big pain. so yeah, not the most romantic, but by far the most blessed. i have a husband of three years and this year i learned about the blessing of a companion. we have cried together the past three days, alot. but in the midst of those tears i felt closer to my terry than i would if we were having a candle light dinner with a $50 steak and potato, and "the way you look tonight" softly playing in the background. no, this year all it took was a broken heart, open arms and a good god.

i am sorry that for many of you, all you hear is sadness in these blogs of late. i am sorry for that. i am laughing, i really am...and i am even funny at times. i will get back there on these pages, i will get through this season. i will write a funny blog. but for now, pray for the familes of these two precious people, pray for the students - that they will run to christ, pray for my terry.

my people and my home

I am a grey’s anatomy fan…and just like Kristina I have “a person” but it is more like “people”…I have my “people”. My people are not foreign to this blog…their pictures have graced the pages many a times and their names pop up here and there. Just to refresh, Haley, Shan, and Kel…these are my people and my people came in town this weekend and warmed my heart, touched my belly, and made me laugh – many times.

I remember not too long ago when I would weep for my people…I would weep to be close to them, for them to live across the street from me, for them to be apart of my everyday life. I would let my mind hate this state and hate this town. I would make my Terry believe that my only happiness was in Georgia, right next to my people. I am glad to say God has renewed this place to me. I love my people, but we are better for each other by making footprints in different towns. We bring more wisdom to each other, more to our friendship, and in the end my people bring more to my heart.

As my people left our house yesterday, I was thankful for their presence in my home. My home. Yes, Birmingham is my home. And instead of crying when the left, I smiled that Mike and Cara were outside with Bryson washing cars and asking us to grill out. I smiled that Chelsey is coming for dinner on Wednesday to let us meet her new boy. I smiled that Robyn, Bridges and the rest of our small group form church are coming on Thursday to watch Lost. I smiled that I love our new church…that it feel like home to us. I smiled that Addison would know this place as her home, too – and that she already has friends in our neighborhood waiting for her to come and play. I smiled that my place in this world is perfect. Those girls are my people, but this neighborhood, this town, this state, this is my place – and I love it.

In the midst of this smiling, I wondered when it was I realized this place had become home. And then it dawned on me…a couple of weeks ago, we had Robyn, Bridges and little Evynne over for dinner. They are not only friends from church, they are neighbors and they make me smile. Robyn has a sweet gift of making people feel like you have known them for years…it is refreshing. So we had them for dinner. My Henry-dog about drove them nuts, but they handled it like troopers. As with any other night, Henry was waiting for the end of the meal when he gets to lick our plates. First, I put down my plate, then Terry and then even Robyn puts down her plate. It was so sweet to me. And probably so weird to her…we are officially the weird Tingles. But it was ok. It is so hard sometimes - being real with people you want to get to know so badly. But we were real…I was real. That is when I realized I was home.

I have been in Birmingham for almost 5 years. And for most of four, I fought it. I put on a smile to make acquaintances – not friends. Like I said, I already had my people. But I was wrong. I need community, I need friends, I need a home. My footprints are now permanent here…like I said, I am home.

addison's room - phase 1

This weekend was spent striping addison’s room. It was not a planned event but one that transpired out of boredom. Well, that and dislike for the shoot ‘em up move terry was watching. Yeah, so the painting is done, but not without some happening along the way.

So after…

Two days
4 rolls of blue tape
Two cans of cheap paint
A drop cloth that will tear if you breathe on it
Open windows with 40 degree wind blowing through your hair
No bickering...praise God for peace!
176 squats
224 calf raises (b/c my terry is short and can’t reach to tape the ceiling…even with a stool – haha)
Only one major spill on the carpet (rug purchase has just jumped from #7 on the list of needs to #1…oops)
Lots of sighs and groans…I got stuck on the floor a couple of times and couldn’t get up…
Worry that it was going to look like crap (that blue tape plays with your vision)
Making sure Addison wasn’t getting high on me
And finally Henry christening the room when I didn’t pay attention to his whining to be let out…

…This is what it takes to get a baby’s room to look like neopolitan ice cream.

Beginnings of a Nursery

Tired dad and happy Henry-dog

Henry-dog waiting for Addison

On to the next baby room project…painting furniture…

june

There are many, many sad things that have happened in the past year, each one of them keeping me humble and on my knees. There is Terry’s friend Dustin Salter- an amazing dad, husband, and pastor to college students through RUF at Furman. He was riding a bike with his sons, just spending some “dad” time with them, falls off his bike, and now has suffered brain injuries for 3 months. You can read about his journey here.

Then there is Brian Hatton – a man I have never met, but he too had an accident and suffers major brain injuries. He lies in a hospital bed, just a Dustin does, with a child at home and loved ones by his side day in and day out talking to him, squeezing his hand, and doing just about anything to “excite” his brain. His story is told here.

This past weekend my best friend’s father was rushed into surgery to drain a hematoma. If Woody hadn’t gone to the doctor when he did, he could have suffered an irreversible coma or paralysis on one side of his body.

Then I think back to last June…June 9 to the exact. I had a major deadline for a project at the University of Alabama that day. Our whole team had been working around the clock, on weekends, and some nights until 1 or 2 in the morning. I was exhausted. Then I get the phone call. The phone call every person dreads to hear. My 19 year old cousin passed away during the night and didn’t wake up the next morning. Tragedy. My heart breaks to even think about it. We later learned that he had suffered an aneurysm – again, another injury to the brain but this time a life was taken, my cousin’s life. Had he seen another day, June 10 would have been his 20th birthday.

So what is it with the brain? I think about these four people who have affected my life in some way and I wonder why did God turn their brains off, or save one in Woody’s case. There are days where I wish I could turn my brain off; I think we all have those days. There are certainly days, months or even a year here and there that I wish my brain would let me forget. Then there are times when my Terry is so stressed with work that I want my brain to take on those stresses for him so that he can have a good night’s rest. The heart keeps us alive, but the brain, that keeps us human. And on top of being very human right now, I am very pregnant. And as with any pregnancy there is a due date – mine is June 10.

I go in Addison’s room every night to pray for her. Last night I wept as I prayed. My brain will not let me forget that June 10 has two meanings. That day, that week, heck even that month will forever be one of celebration and one of loss. There is no way around it, there is no way to forget it. It is forever embedded in my brain. I’m not really saying anything profound, thought-provoking, or even humorous with this post, but I am saying what my head thinks – June is going to hard, that week will be hard. But I know, no matter what the emotion, life will be celebrated – for both Addison and Nick, we will celebrate!

i love this kid

i am sure most of you have seen this funny little commercial but i thought i would post it anyway. i forget how much i like this little man. so, for a good monday afternoon chuckle...

http://www.sillymortal.com/neat/good_doctor.html

likes and dislikes

This weekend I had to breakdown and buy some shoes…some really practical, extremely un-fun, boring black shoes. It was emotional (I know this sounds silly, but I’m pregnant, everything is emotional). I kept adoring shoes like this:

But ended up with shoes like this:

So in honor of my un-fun shoes, here are a couple of lists about being pregnant…

Things I dislike about being pregnant:
Weight gain – my butt is as big as much as my belly…
Growing feet – I had big feet pre-baby, just imagine them now…
Back pains – at the end of the day I am done…
Un-fun shoes – thanks to growing feet and back pain…
Double chin – I am afraid I had one before baby but today I blame it on baby…
Midnight trips to the potty – 4 times last night…4 TIMES, PEOPLE!
Tears that come out of nowhere – poor Terry, he is hanging in there…
Wine, I miss wine. And beer, I miss beer, too…I can’t even eat wings right now, they seem lonely without the beer…
My wedding wing doesn’t fit!!! I hate that!!! I am going to buy a really big, gaudy, fake ring and sport it until June…
People you don’t know touching your stomach – can’t stand it…who are these people?

Things I love about being pregnant:
Addison’s little kicks – she reminds me she is around every hour or so…
Ultrasounds – who doesn’t love seeing their little lima bean?
Food – everyone expects you to eat a lot…and I do…a lot…
Little clothes and little shoes – I can’t stand it, they are so cute!
Daydreaming about her – what she looks like, what she will act like, ect…
Praying for her – It is sweet and priceless…
Talking to her – I love that she will know my voice above all others…
If there is anything wrong – blame it on the preggers…
Terry’s excitement – seeing him fall in love with her more and more everyday…
Grandparents – it is amazing how excited they get, too…I love it!
Creating life – it is by far the most incredible blessing I have experienced…

Have a great Monday!