a piece of me

I was a small town girl, living in a lonely world.

I had never said a swear word. 

 I feared God to an extreme.  

I prayed multiple times daily.  

For what?  I don't know.....just being human. 

 I didn't trust in my own personality or beauty to open my life to friendships or individual opinion.

This story had a dramatic change the summer after 7th grade.

We moved to Kearns, Utah.  

Our rental was a 3 bedroom multilevel home on a corner lot.

I thought I was totally going to DIE when I heard the voice of my dad talking to a couple of girls my age in our front yard.

He called for me to come outside and meet my future best friends.

[9th grade promotion]

With this motley crew, [a combo of dudes and chics],  I learned to experiment with life.  I started wearing A LOT of make-up and understanding ways to apply it in distinct strokes that made me unique.

I copied the skills of others to get my hair to stand 6 inches high due to a combination of AquaNet, a blow dryer and a ratting pick.

This group helped me through the recovery of a devastating vehicle wreck that caused my face to need reconstruction.  They visited me everyday and hung out next to me filling me in on the happenings/gossip  at school.

We confided in each other's woes and related to what assholes our parents were.

We were each other's strength, acceptance, counselor, and adopted sibling.

[Chris and Stacie]

We smoked on the hill behind school.

We cut classes and believed we were smart enough that we didn't need an education.

We found rides to storage units where heavy metal bands performed concerts.  Girls got in free :) 

 [We understood the power of being a girl early on!  We also used that power to make stupid decisions]

We wore out vinyl records of Bon Jovi while strumming our air guitars with passion.

We made lyrics to songs that we would sing in our future 

Rock N Roll band.

We loaded up a shitty van and went camping with nothing but beer, cigarettes and a package of hot dogs.

We were deep and dramatic with our thoughts.

We saw our future that consisted of us being Best Friends FOREVER as we traveled the world and experienced life outside of 'stupid' Utah.

[me and Randy, Chris and Jim, Stacie and Robby 

senior prom]

*for those of you who won't believe me when I say I was the "big girl" in my group......

well, HERE'S the proof! 

As the years progressed, so did our lives.

We scraped up money to put gas in our rusted cars.

We worked $3.75/hr jobs and barely had time to earn the credits to graduate high school.

We met boys that would eventually become our husbands.

We had babies.

We dispersed.

We became everything we said we wouldn't........

CONFORMING AND NORMAL.

When I think of my internal age, I always go back to 14 years old.

This is the time(s) in my life that I was reborn.

I found me.

And I had genuine friends around me that experienced this same change.

As a group we became whole through the pieces that each one added to the other.

We helped mold one another into the adults we would eventually be.

I felt the air get heavy and dark around me as I was told of  Stacie's death last week.

She is only 14 41!!!!!!, 

I yelled to myself over and over.

This was not in our life plan.

This was not in the story written in our lyrics.

I allowed Stacie to take a piece of me with her to her resting place, as I kept a piece of her with me.  We formed each others puzzle and it's only proper that we stay intertwined.  I feel her presence.  I am comforted by the pictures of her beautiful eyes which shows the depth of her sweetness. 

In the parking lot of the mortuary, we gathered in Stacie's memory.

We let go of balloons with loving statements scrolled on the surfaces.

We cried, laughed, smoked cigarettes and reminisced of the 'days gone by'.

I want to think that Stacie was proud to see how our puzzle of friends reunited in the name of one beautiful eyed 80's girl.

xoxo  I love you Stac.

Rock on sister.

Who done it???? DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN!

Randy and I were invited to a ' 20's Murder-Mystery Party' that took place on Saturday evening.

I was given the part of Heidi Shnapps, 

the waitress-wanna be dancer from Austria who was really a spy!!!!!

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN!

I took the role very seriously and made Heidi a class act with aspirations of being a POLE dancer.

As luck would have it, the previous owner of my home had left us a set of Scott ski poles [along with tapes of  Japanese and Cuban porn!] in our basement.

I doctored up the ski pole with a silver tray holding martini glasses on the top, and the pole with dollar bills [thanks for the dollar bill idea Paula!] stating I would accept tips for my services.

The pole came in handy at the end of the night to be my crutch from too much yummy wine.

Rand was a Gangsta frequenting the club that I worked.

[yes, his vest is sooooo John Travolta 'stayin alive', but we got by with what we had OK?!?!?]

Hours before we had to leave for the party, Riv had a clan of kids over to play ping pong, listen to loud music, and drink/eat a shartload of junk foods.

They were having such a good time, we allowed them to stay and continue their fun.

[we were only 10 minutes away and had Jax as our law dog to report any unscrupulous behavior.  He's a great snitch.  Fortunately for all the kids involved, there were no bad reports made.]

Because I was "one of those" teenagers, I am already 27 steps years

ahead of their experimental brain, and had Rand put a lock on our beer fridge!

Riv's friends are a stand-up, good bunch of kids, but still no need to leave things to temptation!

Darius thought that he and Rand should trade hats for night.

Randy gave it a try, and then I stepped in and said, "no."

We had some great characters!

Al Kohol, Bart Ender, Brandy Chaser, and Gil T. Azell to name a few.

[Derek was Al Kohol]

Carrie [on the left] was the hostess of the party.  She played Roxanne the flapper [and the killer!!!!!!  dun dun dunnnnn!!!!!] Lisa was Brandy Chaser and the cutest flapper whore I've ever seen.  She ran a half marathon that morning as Wonder Woman and still managed to have steady legs under her to shake her fringe.

Prizes were given out that could be useful to some peeps in a predicament. 

It's all fun and games until someone loses a right nut from a gifted elk head sling-shot!

It was a fabulous evening of drama [the fun kind] and hilarity.

Nothing like dressing up to make a person feel young!

[and also to have an excuse to have a dual personality and not be carried away in a straight jacket.] 

Here comes the BOOM

Funny, tearful, and extremely inspirational!!!!

Take your kids and go see this movie!

Little Tramp

My computer, or pooter as Amie calls it, had a well check.
She's out of the stirrups and back in the saddle!

THANK GAWWWD!

I feel like I have been out of my social loop of blogs for toooooo long!

Nothing like a good antivirus to clean up her whorin' around!

Get it when you can

When you have the social life* that this kid has, you gotta catch up on the ZZZZZZZZZ's while you can.

Even if it's during a hunting seminar just minutes before you are handed a shotgun!

***You think I'm kidding about the social life???

uh...well, I'm not!

I don't know how this son of mine finds time to go to school, pick his nose or pay any attention to his poor old parents sitting at home waiting on his beck and call to shuttle his ass around!

hmmmmm......I have no idea where he gets this social side of him?

Probably from Mr. Party animal Randy!

Yep!!! I'm sure of it.

Brost!

The ride up Little Cottonwood Canyon was in it's utmost prime.

The look of Fruity Pebbles cereal scattered across the mountain sides were vibrant and blaring.

Apparently the Benadryl drug induced kids missed the scenery as they were catching flies in their snoring mouths.

Oh yeah baby!!!!!  Mugs were in hand and ready to be filled after walking the mile trek uphill to get to the Oktoberfest entrance.

The Sim's family met up with us by the Alpine slide and we proceeded to 'chug the mugs o' lubs' as we laughed and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

The kiddies were so excited to walk to the 'kids court' to get their faces painted.

Riv felt very distinguished and even more brilliant than his current IQ, by having this facial hair combo.

[If you know Riv, then you know that he admires himself and his IQ VERY much!]

Ryann was still in her leg cast [not the walking kind] but nothing short of putting her in an induced coma was going to keep this lil comedian down!  She hobbled all around almost wearing a hole in the bottom of the purple fiberglass cast as she made new friends with strangers.

Grace on the other hand made full use of the wheel chair that was prescribed for Ryann.

She aint no dummy!!!!

Why walk with two healthy legs when you can get an adult fool to push you around everywhere???

This gal is one smart [rested] cookie!

Shelbs was probably the most excited about the face paint.  She got the full face package deal.

It truly transformed her features.

Cashman went with the hardcore fire/skull combo.  You could see his chest puff up with masculinity when he looked at himself.

And then you have the kid who asks for "the unusual" request.

Of course it would be MY kid that asked for a..............

UNI-BROW!!!

OYYYYYY VEYYYYYY!

Random bald man in the background.

Wanna know what I think?

I think he was being sly with those dark shades and lookin at Chelise's booty-pop!

Our annual Oktoberfest tradition doesn't only consist of beer and apple strudel!!!

It also entails an expensive BULL RIDE for the boys.

Jax thought he was getting 'bucked' off, so he just put both feet down and walked off the damn bull.

a duh!

The day was filled with family, friends, laughter, beer, good food, a chill in the air to redden the tips of our noses and of course a KICK ASS German uni-brow.

Life is good.

Real men wear flip flops to work construction

At this very moment, I am watching dudes lay my cement IN FLIP FLOPS!!!

How does that saying go?

You can take the man out of Tonga but you can't take the Tonga from between his toes?

Randy said they have done the entire job in flip flops which includes using a very large, sharp pick to break up ground.  It's all fun and games until a Tongan loses a big toe!

I can tell you right now, I don't want a Tongan big toe memorialized in my stamped cement!

They are lucky we don't enforce Union policies on our workers.....that's all I have to say.

Ancient friendships

I received a surprise on my doorstep.

Don'tcha just love doorstep boxed surprises?!?!?

I know I do!

Awaiting me was a doorstep gift that came all the way across state lines from Grand Junction, Colorado.

Right away I recognized the handwriting on the address label.

I couldn't get that US Postal Mail box from Amie opened fast enough to see what was lurking inside!!!

[Admittedly, I was a bit skid-dish when opening the package.  I was prepared for something like a snake in a can to pop out at me on a boiiiiing spring because Amie has that kind of devilish humor!]

Surrounded by newspaper cushion sat this earthy pottery made, anciently beautiful 'circle of friends' candle holder.

Wow! 

This little memento of love and friendship has me feeling so very special.

I love you Amie.

May we dance in drunkin circles together until we are dizzy with laughter.  

We make great historical stories together!