Busy Day

Wow, what a busy day! We were on the road around 9am--I planned to see Emma at her house around 10:45. So we made great time and I called one of our old neighbors, Scott and Kelly, and asked if we could drop in on them, too. They are our age with baby #2 on the way in a matter of weeks. We lived on a fantastic little court and I still really miss the neighbors we had. It was odd driving to our old street. Funny because I absolutely despised the house and neighborhood for at least the first 8 months that we lived there. Serious buyer's remorse. I felt like we got ripped off and it was in need of so much TLC. In the 3 1/2 years we lived there we replaced every appliance except the stove, the hot water heater, all the flooring except for the small amount of hardwood on the main. The kitchen was barely functional and the basement had technically been finished, but very poorly. Doug essentially rebuilt the kitchen, we had the cabinets refaced. Almost the entire house was covered in awful wallpaper so all of that was torn down and then we had to repair all the walls before painting. We replaced all of the baseboards and moldings and did some crown molding. Even the tub in the one full bath we had was a nasty mess that had to be reglazed and the fixtures replaced. No room was spared an improvement. Basically, nothing was easy to fix, but fix we did. And by doing so it became our Home. Doug and I put our hearts and souls, blood, sweat and a lot of my tears into that house so in the end, I loved it. And as soon as it was all done, we moved. Anyway, it was weird being back on our court seeing the house at the bottom and knowing it wasn't mine anymore. I kept asking Bode as we drove into the neighborhood if he remembered any of it and he gave his standard "No" answer. I've got to believe he does on some level remember this place, even if he was only two when we moved.

It was really good seeing Kelly again. She looks great and it was fun to catch-up. They've had some serious health concerns as Scott experienced a brain infection this past fall. We saw him when we were here in September and he looked terrible, as one would with such an ailment. He looked totally sapped and in pain. It was great seeing him again as he looks like Scott again. His energy is back and you can see that in his eyes. Bode took a bit to warm up but then it was like old times--fighting with Ryan (their 2 1/2 year old) over toys. Like we'd never left! I had to laugh. Bode was so upset when we left. I drove down the court to drive past our house only to see a cat sitting on the window-seat Doug built for me. Yuck. No cats in my house! Oh well! Not my house...;)

Off to Emma's. I adore her. As always, it was wonderful and comfortable to just sit and talk. I was lucky enough to meet her at the library, of all places. She had just moved here and had a 4 month old and Bode was 7 months. I compare meeting her to the single "dating scene" of yore... I saw her when we walked in and knew I had to meet her and knew I wanted to be her friend. I made sure there was room next to me in the storytime group and then asked her to eat at Panera with us afterwards! Making friends as an adult can be so hard! So this was really refreshing. Anyway, kind of makes me laugh. Bode and her son Louis play amazingly well together. They have an almost mellow chemistry with each other. They worked on a big Thomas puzzle together and it was just too cute. They will return to England late-summer/early-fall. That just seems so far away and I really hope we can maintain our friendship even with that kind of distance.

Then to Tim and Patti's, our former next-door neighbors who moved to Jessup when the schools redistricted a couple years ago. I tried so hard to capture the pure GLEE that Bode felt as he chased Garrett! I loved it. Garrett is now 12 but has always been so good with Bode. When I wanted to get a good family Christmas picture for Bode's 1st Christmas all i had to do was have Garrett stand behind the camera and Voila! big smiles from the Bodester. Bode was so comfortable and happy during our visit that it did my heart good (and made me wonder deep down if moving him was more traumatic than I'd realized??). We were blessed with such great friends and neighbors while we lived here. It was a fantastic day. The boys were totally pooped and slept on the way home, so it was a nice quiet ride for me!